BAUCHER'S 
METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 




M« BAUCHFR, 



:oP^R'o-v; 



A ^"WTfOD 



OP 



t- 



HOESEMANSHIP, 

FOUNDED UPON NEW PKINCIPLES: 

INCLUDING THE 

BREAKING AND TRAINING OF HORSES; 

WITH 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR OBTAINING A GOOD SEAT. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH ENG-RAVING-S. 

-^'-'y BY 
/ F. Gaucher. 

QtransIatjelJ fijom t]&ie Nmtt far is HBIrClion. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

A. HART, LATE CAREY AND HART. 

1851. 



SF30' 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

A. HART, 

in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court in and for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



0/ 



^ 1 



4 



/ 



PHILADELPHIA : 
T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



The author s introduction to his " Method 
of Horsemanship" is omitted in this edition, 
because containing much that would be un- 
interesting to the American reader. It men- 
tions the great difficulties he had in attract- 
ing the attention of the public to his system, 
and the complete success with which it was 
crowned when once this attention was at- 
tracted.* One paragraph from it, which 

* The following fact will prove the great popularity of 
the work: The first edition was published in 1842; in 
the first year, two editions were published, and since then 
seven more, making nine editions in eight years. — Trans. 
Note. 
2 



14 translator's preface. 

contains the principle upon which his whole 
method is founded^ is here given : — 

"However favored by nature the horse 
may be, he requires a preparatory exercise 
to enable his forces to afford each other mu- 
tual assistance ; without this, everything be- 
comes mechanical and hazardous, as well on 
his part as on that of the rider. 

"What musician could draw melodious 
sounds from an instrument without having 
exercised his fingers in handling it? He 
would certainly, if he attempted such a 
thing, produce only false discordant sounds; 
and the same thing occurs in horsemanship 
when we undertake to make a. horse exe- 
cute movements for which he has not been 
prepared." 

M. Baucher presents the official docu- 
ments upon the subject of the introduction 
of his method into the French army with 
the followins; introductorv remarks: — 



translator's preface. 15 

" Since the first publication of my method, 
indisputable facts have attested the truth of 
the principles therein contained. Field- 
Marshal the Minister of War has appointed 
a commission, presided over by Lieutenant- 
General the Marquis Oudinot, to examine 
into its advantages.* 

"Fifty horses, some from the troop, and 
others belonging to officers, which had not 
yet commenced their education, or which 
were considered difficult to manage, or vi- 
cious, were subjected to the experiment, 
which commenced on the 21st March, 1842. 
The demands of the service of the garrison 
of Paris permitting only a small number of 

* "The commission was composed of Lieut.-General 
Oudinot, Col. Carrelet, Commander of the Municipal 
Gruard, the Chef d'Escadrons De Novital, commanding 
the Cavalry Riding-School, and the Captain-instructors 
de Grues, of the 5th Cuirassiers^ and De Mesanges, of 
the 3d Lancers/^ 



16 translatok's preface. 

cuirassiers, municipal guards, and first class 
lancers to be put at the disposition of the 
commission, nearly all the horses were in- 
trusted to riders who were by no means in- 
telligent, or else whose education was not 
very much advanced. The riders themselves 
exercised their horses. On the 9th of April 
— that is to say, after fifteen lessons — Field- 
Marshal the Minister of War wished to 
witness the results of the system he had 
ordered to be tried. His excellency was 
accompanied by the members of the com- 
mittee of cavalry, and many other general 
officers. The men being completely armed 
and equipped, and the horses caparisoned, 
they executed, individually and in troop, at 
all the paces, movements that, up to this 
time, had only been required of horses that 
had been exercised for five or six months 
under experienced riders. The Minister of 
War followed all the trials with the greatest 



translator's preface. 17 

interest^ and before retiring expressed his 
complete satisfaction^ and announced his in- 
tention of having a general application of it 
made in the army." 

Among the official documents in favor of 
Baucher's method is a letter from M. Champ- 
montant, Lieutenant-Colonel of the StafF^ 
Secretary of the Committee of Cavalry, in 
which he requests M. Baueher to fix a con- 
venient time to appear before the committee 
and explain his system more completely, 
that they may consider its adoption in the 
army; another from Lieutenant - General 
Marquis Oudinot to M. Baueher. In this 
letter, the general informs M. Baueher that 
the Minister of War has decided that a se- 
ries of experiments shall be made upon his 
method of breaking new horses, and such as 
were considered difficult to manage. 

Then follows the report upon the trials of 
Baucher's method, and a recapitulation of 



18 translator's preface. 

the daily operationSj by the Chef d'Escadrons 
de Novital, commanding the Eoyal School 
at Saumur. The complete success of the 
trial is mentioned above, and an extract only 
from the report will be here given : — 

"But, it may be objected, will not this 
species of captivity, to which the new method 
will subject the horse, prevent his lasting? 
Will it not be the source of his premature 
decay? To this it is easy to answer by a 
comparison, which to us appears conclusive. 
When all the wheel-work of a machine fits 
well together, so that each part furnishes its 
share of action, there is harmony, and con- 
sequently need of a less force; so when, in 
an organized body, we are enabled to obtain 
suppleness and pliability in all the parts, the 
equilibrium becomes easy, there is supple- 
ness and lightness, and in consequence a di- 
minution of fatigue. 

"Far from injuring the horse, the new 



translator's preface. 19 

method has the advantage of being a great 
auxihary in developing the muscles, particu- 
larly in a young subject." 

Extract from the report to Lieuten ant- 
General Oudinot, by M. Carrelet, Colonel of 
the Municipal Guard of Paris :— 

*^ To shorten this narration, I would say 
that the officers of the Municipal Guard are 
unanimous in their approval of M. Baucher's 
proceedings, applied to the breaking of young 
horses. 

"We have assisted at the education of 
forty troop horses, all more or less difficult 
to manage ; and we are convinced that, by 
Baucher's system, they have been more ad- 
vanced in fifteen days than they would have 
been in six months by the proceedings we 
have been accustomed to follow. 

" I am so convinced of the efficiency of 
the means practiced by M. Baucher, that I 



20 thanslator's preface. 

am going to subject to them all the horses 
of my five squadrons." 

Extract from the report of Lieutenant- 
General Marquis Oudinot to his excellency 
the Marshal the Minister of War : — 

'^ That the sj^stem of M. Baucher may 
produce in the army all the advantages ex- 
pected from it, it would be necessary to have 
a certain number of instructors, initiated in 
it as completely as possible, that they may 
be able to teach it afterwards. 

"In consequence of which, I have the 
honor to propose to you to order — 

"1st. That upon the return to Saumur of 
the commanding officer of the riding-school, 
the young horses be broken after Baucher's 
method, and observations made upon the 
advantages or disadvantages that it pre- 
sents. 

" 2d. That in the 5th Cuirassiers and the 



TRANSLATORS PREFACE. 21 

3d Lancers, the application of this method 
be continued. 

"3d. That the different bodies of cavalry 
within a circle of twenty-five leagues around 
Paris detach, for about two months, their 
captain -instructor and one officer, who 
should come to study the system of M. 
Baucher." 

The Minister of War immediately issued 
these three orders, and also three additional 
ones : — 

"4th. M. Baucher, Jr. will repair to the 
camp at Luneville, and sojourn there during 
the months of June, July, and August. 
The captain-instructors, and one lieutenant 
from the troops of horse stationed in the 
neighborhood of Paris, will be ordered to 
Luneville during those months to study the 
Baucher system. 

"5th. M. Baucher, Jr. will receive an 
indemnity of ^ye hundred francs a month. 



22 translator's preface. 

" 6tli. Each of the bodies of troops of 
horse and estabUshments of unbroken horses 
will receive two copies of the work entitled 
^Method of Horsemanship, founded upon 
New Principles, by M. Baucher.' " 

Extract from the report of the Chef 
d'Escadrons Grenier, appointed to the com- 
mand of the officers detached to Paris, by 
ministerial decision of the 20th May, 1842, 
to study the method of horsemanship of M. 
Baucher : — 

" The officers detached to Paris were of 
the number of twenty-two, the captain-in- 
structor and a lieutenant from each regiment. 
♦ ♦ ♦ They exercised for thirty-nine 
days. * * * These officers did not all 
arrive at Paris with the belief that they 
could be taught anything. One-half were 
captain-instructors, the rest lieutenants in- 
tended to become the same. Thus, in the 
beginning, there was very little confidence. 



translator's preface. 23 

on the part of the officers, in their new pro- 
fessor, sometimes even opposition, but always 
zeal and good will. 

" Little by little, confidence came, opposi- 
tion disappeared ; but only at the end of the 
first month, after about twenty-five lessons, 
did all the officers, without exception, un- 
derstand the method and recognize the su- 
periority of M. Baucher's principles over 
those previously known. 

"Before leaving, they all approved of 
the new method, and desired its application 
in their regiments. 

" The method of horsemanship of M. Bau- 
cher is positive and rational ; it is easy to 
understand, especially when studied under 
the direction of some one who knows it. It 
is attractive to the rider, gives him a taste 
for horses and horsemanship, tends to deve- 
lop the horse's qualities, especially that of 
lightness, which is so delightful to discover 



24 translator's preface. 

in a saddle-horse. ^ * * Applied to the 
breaking of young horses, it develops their 
instinct, makes them find the domination of 
the rider easy and pleasant; it preserves 
them from the premature ruin that an im- 
proper breaking often brings with it; it may 
shorten the time devoted to the education 
of the horse ; and it interests the riders em- 
ployed in it." 

M. Desondes, Lieutenant of the 9 th Cui- 
rassiers, winds up a long and highly favor- 
able report upon the breaking of young 
horses for the army with the words, " To 
Baucher the cavalry is grateful." 

Extracts from the sixth and last report 
upon the trials of the new method of horse- 
manship of M. Baucher: — 

" The first trials are concluded. The 
principal movements of the platoon-drill on 
horseback, the running at the head and 
charging, have completed the exercises. 



thanslator's preface. 25 

ThuSj thirty-five lessons have sufficed to 
perfect the instruction of the tractable as 
well as the intractable horses confided to 
me. The first rough work with the horse 
— that is to say, the exercises with the 
snaffle prescribed by the orders — used to 
take up as much time as this, and then we 
scarcely dared to touch the curb-rein. In 
this view, the new system is of great utility 
for cavalry. 

" But the promptness with which we can 
put new horses in the ranks is not the only 
advantage the new method presents; it 
guarantees, besides, the preservation of the 
horse ; it develops his faculties and his pow- 
ers ; these increase by the harmony and pro- 
per application of the forces among them- 
selves, and by their rational and opportune 
use. It is not the immoderate employment 
of force which conquers a rebellious horse, 
but the well-combined use of an ordinary 
3 



26 translator's preface. 

force. The Baucher system ought to be 
considered eminently preservative, since the 
breaking, being well graduated and well 
combined, cannot have an injurious influence 
upon the horse's physique; and his forces 
being at the disposition of the rider, it is he, 
the absolute dispenser of these forces, who 
is responsible for their duration or prema- 
ture destruction. * * * I repeat it, that 
the new method would be a great benefit, 
an indisputable improvement for cavalry. 
* * * I pray then for its adoption, and 
ardently desire its prompt introduction into 
the cavalry. (Signed) De Novital." 

Extract from the Spectateur Militaire: — 
" Passionately fond of a science that, from 
his childhood, has been the object of studies 
as productive as they were persevering, M. 
Baucher, after having obtained from the 
horse a submission almost magical, has not 



teanslatok's preface. 27 

been willing to be the only one to profit by 
his meditations; he has put them cleverly 
together, and his written method is now in 
the hands of all those who occupy them- 
selves with horsemanship. * * * The 
division of dragoons, and the instructors of 
the different bodies of troops of horse that 
composed a part of the camp of Luneville, 
intended to execute, after the principles of 
the new method, and in the presence of their 
royal highnesses, the Dukes of Orleans and 
Nemours, equestrian exercises that would 
'%ave had nriH*«*»s of spectators. The 
mournful event that deprived France of the 
prince royal did not allow of this perform- 
ance having the 6dat that was intended. 
Nevertheless, M. the Duke de Nemours, 
wishing to judge for himself of the results, 
has had part of these exercises performed in 
his presence." 

The death of the Duke of Orleans, and 



28 translator's preface. 

the indifference and afterwards opposition of 
the Duke de Nemours, were the principal 
causes of the system of M. Baucher not 
being adopted for the whole cavalry of the 
French army. The former was an ardent 
admirer of the system, while the latter was 
an equally ardent admirer of a rival profes- 
sor of horsemanship. 

Extract from a letter of M. de Gouy, 
Colonel of the 1st Hussars, to M. Bau- 
cher : — 

"So far from the muscular power being 
lessened by the repetition of the flexions, is 
it not increased by having all the advantage 
of exercise over repose, of work over indo- 
lence? Does not the muscular system, in 
reason, develop itself, physiologically speak- 
ing, in proportion to these conditions? Will 
not address and vigor be the result of these 
gymnastics ? Has the habitual difference be- 
tween the forces of the right and left arm any 



teanslator's preface. 29 

other cause than the difference in the daily 
use of the one to the prejudice of the other?" 

Baucher says : " To prove the complete 
success of my mission to Saumur^ I will 
back, according to my custom, my assertions 
by positive facts. The officers present at 
my course of instruction were of the number 
of seventy-two; of this number sixty-nine 
have sent in reports favorable to my method. 
There were but three dissenting voices^ 

This statement is followed by letters from 
General Pre vest, De No vital, &c., all highly 
commending the system. 

Baucher's method has been reprinted in 
Belgium and translated into Dutch and 
German. In the latter language, several 
different translations have been written, one 
by M. Eitgen, Lieutenant of the 4th Eegi- 
ment of Houlans (Prussian), and the other 
by M. de Willisen, Lieutenant-Colonel of 
the 7th Cuirassiers (Prussian). 
3* 



30 translator's preface. 

The translator will give some extracts 
from the preface to M. de Willisen's transla- 
tion, as it shows that some of the difficulties 
met with by the former were not altogether 
escaped by his German confrere, 

" After the most positive results had 
proved to me most convincingly that, of all 
existing methods, that of M. Baucher was 
the best, I thought that it would be useful 
to translate it. This translation seemed at 
first much easier than it proved in the se- 
quel ; above all, it was actually impossible 
for me to render in German, as I wished, 
such technical French expressions as at- 
taques, acculement, assouplissementy ramener, 
rasserribler, &c., retaining their clearness and 
conciseness. In German, I could only find 
expressions that were incomplete. On this 
account, I have put all the words for which 
I could not find a clear equivalent in Ger- 
man in the original French. 



translator's preface. 31 

" Horses may be broken with much suc- 
cess upon other principles — they have been 
broken before M. Baucher's time — but no 
work has thrown so much light upon horse 
education ; no other method has taught such 
simple and sure means^ nor presented a like 
result with certainty. He who would ride 
with safety and satisfaction ought to be com- 
pletely master of an obedient and correct 
horse. To obtain this result, M. Baucher 
gives the surest means and points out the 
shortest road. 

'^ The exact knowledge of the obstacles 
that the horse presents to dispose him to 
obey easily ; the simple manner, easy to un- 
derstand and easy to execute, of making 
these obstacles disappear, distinguish this 
method from all preceding ones, and render 
it of the greatest importance to all riders. 

" The close relations that are established 
between rider and horse give the former 



82 translator's preface. 

such a certainty of hand and legs, and the 
latter such suppleness and obedience, that a 
like result has never previously been ob- 
tained. 

" Until now, no horseman has ever had 
such clear and sure means for breaking a 
horse given him, even approximatively, as 
are contained in this book. The trial will 
give the most convincing proofs of this when 
we undertake to apply the principles therein 
contained; but that can only be considered 
a trial when made by following strictly what 
is prescribed in the method. There is no 
other method that can put the horse so cer- 
tainly in the hand and in the legs of the 
rider; no other method succeeds in develop- 
ing so much address and assurance in horse 
or rider : the horse feels at his ease, the rider 
is absolute master of him, and both are at 
their ease. ^ ^ ^ This new method 
teaches, further, what is of very great im- 



translator's preface. 33 

portancGj the most certain means of making 
the rider perfectly in harmony with his 
horse, so that they can understand and mu- 
tually trust one another, in such a way that 
the horse obeys as punctually as the rider 
guides him skillfully. In place of being 
obliged to break every horse after our own 
particular fashion, we will only, thanks to 
this method, have to occupy ourselves with 
one horse, for it teaches us that the same 
means are applicable to all horses. It is 
unnecessary to enumerate the advantages 
the instruction of the rider gains from it, 
for he escapes the martyrdom of the lessons 
being given him on awkward badly-broken 
horses. Eiders will sooner become masters 
of these managed horses, and will acquire 
in six weeks a seat that will come of itself, 
and their touch will be developed much 
more quickly. 

" Finally, men learn very quickly to put 



34 translator's preface. 

in practice means that are applied on foot, 
and there is a great advantage in it ; it is 
that they can see better the moment that 
the neck becomes flexible and the jaw with- 
out contraction: besides this, their hand be- 
comes much more delicate than it would 
have become in a much greater space of 
time, if the application took place in the 
saddle. 

"Until now, only men of great talent 
were able to break horses; now, by prac- 
ticing this new method, which demonstrates 
clearly the means of breaking, every rider, 
in a very short time, can acquire the know- 
ledge necessary to render a horse fit for use. 
* * * A person commencing to learn 
this method, and who is obliged to work 
from the book, ought to proceed slowly and 
cautiously in the application of principles 
that are not familiar to him. He ought first 
to endeavor to perfect his seat, his position, 



translator's preface. 35 

his touch, the obedience of his horse, and 
his paces ; he will thus make great progress 
in the breaking, and be enabled to under- 
take the application of the new method. 

" De "Willises, 
'' Lieut.- Col. of the 7th Cuirassieo^s.^' 

M. Baucher received from the King of 
Prussia a magnificent snuff-box of elegantly 
carved gold, as a token of the satisfaction of 
his majesty with our author's system. 

If anybody has read all this, they will be 
pleased to hear that there will be no more 
proofs of the excellence of the system 
brought from across the Atlantic. In con- 
sequence of the opposition mentioned above, 
Baucher's system was discontinued in the 
French army, in spite of the almost unani- 
mous wish of the officers. But he has 
gained a name as the first horseman of this 
or any other age — the first who could not 



36 translator's preface. 

only manage horses himself, but teach others 
to do so equally well. This has been proved 
under the translator's own eyes. 

A gentleman of this city purchased a 
horse, four years old, long, gangling, ewe- 
necked, such a brute as no one but a con- 
fident disciple of Baucher would have had 
anything to do with. Had he hunted the 
country for a horse with but one merit, that 
of soundness, and possessing that only be- 
cause nothing had ever been done to injure 
it, he could not have been better suited. 
Mounted upon this animal, it was painful 
to see a good rider in such a quandary; but 
a quiet confident smile showed what was 
intended to come of it. 

In six weeks from that time, without the 
horse ever having crossed the threshold of 
the stable-yard, the writer saw him splendid, 
with his neck arched like the steed in Holy 
Writ, his haunches well under him, obedient 



translator's preface. 37 

to the lightest touch of hand or heel^ ready 
to do anything that was demanded of him, 
because he had been put in a position that 
enabled him to do it. 

Since that, the same person has broken 
two other horses of greater natural capabili- 
ties, and the success was proportionately 
greater. 

Every one who takes any interest in 
horses recollects the horse May-Fly, when 
first introduced to an American audience, 
by Sands, of Welsh's circus. This horse, a 
thorough-bred, belonging to the racing stud 
of Baron Eothschild, was so vicious that he 
had to be brought upon the race-course in a 
van, so that he could see nothing till the 
moment to start arrived. With even this 
and similar precautions, he was considered 
dangerous and unmanageable. The master 
hand was required, and, under its influence, 
all such things as vice and being unmanage- 
4 



38 translator's preface. 

able disappeared. Instead of violent force 
on the part of man, which would only have 
produced more violent force on the part of 
the brute, Baucher sought out the sources 
of these resistances, and conquered them in 
detail. 

Is it not worth a few weeks' pleasant la- 
bor with your horse to be able to make him 
move with the grace, elegance, and majesty 
of this one, or of those we have since seen 
ridden by Derious, and that French Amazon, 
Caroline Loyo ? It is within the power of 
every one to do this to a certain extent; 
and as the education of the man as a rider 
advances progressively with that of the 
horse, there are, as Baucher himself says, 
no limits to the progress of horsemanship, 
and no performance, equestrianly possible, 
that a horseman, who will properly apply 
his principles, cannot make his horse exe- 
cute. 



BAUCHER^S 
METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP, 

FOUNDED ON NEW PRINCIPLES. 



NEW MEANS OF OBTAINING A GOOD SEAT. 

It may undoubtedly be thought astonish- 
ing thatj in the first editions of this work, 
having for its object the horse's education, I 
should not have commenced by speaking of 
the rider's seat. In fact, this, so important 
a part of horsemanship, has always been the 
basis of classical works on this subject. 
Nevertheless, it is not without a motive 
that I have deferred treating of this question 
until now. Had I had nothing new to say 



40 METHOD OF HOESEMA^NSHIP. 

on this subject, I might very easily have 
managed, by consulting old authors, by 
transposing a sentence here and changing a 
word there, to have sent forth into the 
equestrian world another inutility. But I 
had other ideas ; I wished to make a tho- 
rough reform. My system for giving a good 
seat to the rider, being also an innovation, 
I feared lest so many new things at one 
time should alarm even the best intentioned 
amateurs, and give a hold to my adversaries. 
They would not have failed to say that my 
means of managing a horse were impracti- 
cable, or that they could not be applied 
without recourse to a seat still more imprac- 
ticable. But now I have proved the con- 
trary — that, upon my plan, horses have 
been broken by troops without regard to the 
men's seat. To give more force to my me- 
thod, and render it more easily comprehen- 
sible, I have divested it of all accessories, 



SEAT OF THE RIDER. 41 

and said nothing about those new principles 
that concern the rider's seat. I reserved 
these last until after the indisputable success 
of the official trials. By means of these 
principles, added to those I have published 
upon the art of horse-breaking, I both 
shorten the man's work, and establish a 
system not only precise, but complete in 
these two important parts of horsemanship, 
hitherto so confused. 

By following my new instructions relating 
to the man's seat on horseback, we will 
promptly arrive at a certain result; they 
are as easy to understand as to demonstrate. 
Two sentences are sufficient to explain all 
to the rider, and he will get a good seat by 
the simple advice of the instructor. 

Tlie seat of the rider, — The rider will 

expand his chest as much as possible, so 

that each part of his body rests upon that 

next below it, for the purpose of increasing 

4* 



42 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

the adhesion of his buttocks to the saddle ; 
the arms will fall easily by the sides. The 
thighs and legs mustj by their own strength, 
find as many points of contact as possible 
with the saddle and the horse's sides; the 
feet will naturally follow the motion of the 
legs. 

You see by these few lines how simple 
the rider's seat is. 

The means which I point out for quickly 
obtaining a good seat remove all the difficul- 
ties which the plan pursued by our prede- 
cessors presented. The pupil used to un- 
derstand nothing of the long catechism, 
recited in a loud voice by the instructor, 
from the first word to the last, consequently 
he could not execute it. Here one word re- 
places all those sentences; but we previous- 
ly go through a course of supplings. This 
course will make the rider expert, and con- 
sequently intelligent. One month will not 



PREPARATORY LESSON. 43 

elapse without the most stupid and awk- 
ward recruit being able to seat himself pro- 
perly without the aid of the word of com- 
mand. 

Preparatory lesson {the lesson to last an 
hour, tivo lessons a day for a month). — The 
horse is led upon the ground^ saddled and 
bridled. The instructor must take two pu- 
pils ; one will hold the horse by the bridle, 
all the while watching what the other does, 
that he may be able to perform in his turn. 
The pupil will approach the horse's shoulder 
and prepare to mount; for this purpose he 
will lay hold of and separate with the right 
hand, a handful of mane, and pass it into 
the left hand, taking hold as near the roots 
as possible, without twisting them; he will 
seize the pommel of the saddle with the 
right hand, the four fingers in, and the 
thumb outside ; then springing lightly, will 



44 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

raise himself upon his wrists. As soon as 
his middle is the height of the horse's with- 
ers, he will pass the right leg over the 
croup, without touching it, and place him- 
self lightly in the saddle. This vaulting 
being very useful in making the man active, 
he should be made to repeat it eight or ten 
times, before letting him finally seat him- 
self. The repetition of this will soon teach 
him what he is able to do, using the powers 
of his arms and loins. 

Exercise in the sadule. — (This is a station- 
ary exercise on horseback; an old, quiet 
horse to be chosen in preference; the reins 
are knotted, and hang on his neck.) — The 
pupil being on horseback, the instructor will 
examine his natural position, in order to 
exercise more frequently those parts which 
have a tendency to give way or stiffen. 
The lesson will commence with the chest. 
The instructor will make use of the flexions 



EXERCISE IN THE SADDLE. 45 

of the loins, which expand the chest, to 
straighten the upper part of the pupil's 
body; he whose loins are slack, will be 
made to hold himself in this position for 
some time, without regard to the stiffness 
which this will bring along with it the first 
few times. It is by the exertion of force 
that the pupil will become supple, and not 
by the abandon so much and so uselessly 
recommended. A movement at first ob- 
tained by great effort, will, after a while, not 
require so much, for he will then have gain- 
ed skill, and skill, in this case, is but the 
result of exertions combined and employed 
properly. What is first done with twenty 
pounds of force reduces itself afterwards to 
fourteen, to ten, to four. Skill will be the 
exertion reduced to four pounds. If we 
commenced by a less, we would not attain 
this result. The flexions of the loins will 
be often renewed, allowing the pupil often 



46 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

to let himself down into his natural relaxed 
position, in order to make him properly em- 
ploy the force that quickly gives a good 
position to the chest. The body being well 
placed, the instructor will pass : 1st. To the 
lesson of the arm, which consists in moving 
it in every direction, first bent, and after- 
wards extended; 2d. To that of the head; 
this must be turned right and left without 
its motions reacting on the shoulders. 

When the lessons of the chest, arms, and 
head give a satisfactory result, which ought 
to be at the end of four days (eight lessons), 
they will pass to that of the legs. 

The pupil will remove one of his thighs 
as far as possible from the quarters of the 
saddle; and afterwards replace it with a ro- 
tatory movement from without inwards, in 
order to make it adhere to the saddle by as 
many points of contact as possible. The 
instructor will watch that the thigh does 



FLEXION OF THE LEGS. 47 

not fall back heavily; it should resume its 
position by a slowly progressive motion, and 
without a jerk. He ought, moreover, dur- 
ing the first lesson, to take hold of the pu- 
pil's leg and direct it, in order to make him 
understand the proper way of performing 
this displacement. He will thus save him 
fatigue, and obtain the result more quickly. 

This kind of exercise, very fatiguing at 
first, requires frequent rests 3 it would be 
wrong to prolong the exercise beyond the 
powers of the pupil. The motions of draw- 
ing in [adduction, which makes the thigh 
adhere to the saddle), and putting out (ab- 
duction, which separates it from the sad- 
dle), becoming more easy, the thighs will 
have acquired a suppleness which will admit 
of their adherence to the saddle in a good 
position. Then comes the flexion of the 
legs. 

Flexion of the legs.— The instructor will 



48 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

watch that the knees always preserve their 
perfect adherence to the saddle. The legs 
will be swung backward and forward like 
the pendulum of a clock; that is, the pupil 
will raise them so as to touch the cantle of 
the saddle with his heels. The repetition of 
these flexions will soon render the legs sup- 
ple, pliable, and independent of the thighs. 
The flexions of the legs and thighs will be 
continued for four days (eight lessons). To 
make each of these movements more correct 
and easier, eight days (or sixteen lessons) 
will be devoted to it. The fifteen days 
(thirty lessons), which remain to complete 
the month, will continue to be occupied by 
the exercise of stationary supplings ; but, in 
order that the puj)il may learn to combine 
the strength of his arms, and that of his 
loins, he will be made to hold at arm's 
length, progressively, weights of from ten to 
forty pounds. This exercise will be com- 



EXERCISE OF THE KNEES. 49 

menced in the least fatiguing position, the 
arm being bent, and the hand near the 
shoulder, and this flexion will be continued 
to the full extent of the arm. The chest 
should not be affected by this exercise, but 
be kept steady in the same position. 

Of the hnees. — The strength of pressure 
of the knees will be judged of, and even 
obtained, by the aid of the following me- 
thod : this, which at first sight will perhaps 
appear of slight importance, will, neverthe- 
less, bring about great results. The in- 
structor will take a narrow piece of leather 
about twenty inches long; he will place one 
end of this strap between the pupil's knee 
and the side of the saddle. The pupil will 
make use of the force of his knees to pre- 
vent its slipping, while the instructor will 
draw it towards him slowly and progress- 
ively. This process will serve as a dyna- 
mometer to judge of the increase of power. 
5 



60 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

The strictest watcli must be kept that 
each force which acts separately does- not 
put other forces in action, that is to say, 
that the movement of the arms does not in- 
fluence the shoulders ; it should be the same 
with the thighs, with respect to the body; 
the legs, with respect to the thighs, &c. &c. 
The displacement and su^Dpling of each part 
separately, being obtained, the chest and 
seat will be temporarily displaced, in order 
to teach the rider to recover his proper posi- 
tion without assistance. This will be done 
as follows: the instructor being placed on 
one side, will push the pupil's hip, so that 
his seat will be moved out of the seat of the 
saddle. The instructor will then allow him 
to get back into the saddle, being careful to 
watch that, in regaining his seat, he makes 
use of his hips and knees only, in order to 
make him use only those parts nearest to 
his seat. In fact, the aid of the shoulders 



EXERCISE OF THE KNEES. 51 

would soon affect the hand, and this the 
horse ; the assistance of the legs would have 
still worse results. In a word, in all the 
displacements, the pupil must be taught not 
to have recourse in order to direct the horse, 
to the means which keep him in his seat, 
and, vice versa, not to employ in order to 
keep his seat, those which direct the horse. 

Here, but a month has elapsed, and these 
equestrian gymnastics have made a rider of 
a person, who at first may have appeared 
the most unfit for it. Having mastered the 
preliminary trials, he will impatiently await 
the first movements of the horse, to give 
himself up to them with the ease of an ex- 
perienced rider. 

Fifteen days (thirty lessons) will be de- 
voted to the walk, trot, and gallop. Here 
the pupil should solely endeavor to follow 
the movements of the horse; therefore, the 
instructor will oblige him to occupy himself 



52 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

only with his seat, and not attempt to guide 
the horse. He will only exact that the 
pupil ride at first, straight before him, then 
in every direction, one rein of the snafle in 
each hand. At the end of four days (eight 
lessons), he may be made to take the curb 
rein in his left hand. The right hand, 
which is now free, must be held along side 
of the left, that he may early get the habit 
of sitting square (with his shoulders on a 
level); the horse will trot equally to the 
right and to the left. When the seat is 
firmly settled at all the paces, the instruc- 
tor will explain simply, the connection be- 
tween the wrists and the legs, as well as 
their separate effects. 

Education of the horse. — Here the rider 
will commence the horse's education, by fol- 
lowing the progression I have pointed out, 
and which will be found farther on. The 
pupil will be made to understand all that 
there is rational in it, and what an intimate 



HECAPITULATIOK. 53 

connection exists between the education of 
the man and that of the horse. 
Recapitulation and progression. — ■ 

Days. Lessons. 

1. Flexion of the loins to ex- 
pand the chest 4 8 

2. Extending and replacing of 

the thighs, and flexion of the legs 4 8 

3. General exercise of all the 

parts in succession 8 16 

4. Displacement of the man's 
body, exercise of the knees, and 

arms with weights in the hands 15 30 

5. Position of the rider, the 
horse being at a walk, trot, and 
gallop, in order to fashion and 
settle the seat at these different 

paces 15 30 

6. Education of the horse by 

the rider 75 150 

Total 121 242 

5* 



54 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 



II. 

OF THE FORCES OF THE HORSE. 

Of their causes and effects. — The horse, 
like all organized beings, is possessed of a 
weight and a force peculiar to himself. The 
weight inherent to the material of which 
the animal is composed, renders the mass 
inert, and tends to ^^ it to the ground. 
The force, on the contrary, by the faculty it 
gives him of moving this weight, of divid- 
ing it, of transferring it from one of his parts 
to another, communicates movement to his 
whole being, determines his equilibrium, 
speed, and direction. To make this truth 
more evident, let us suppose a horse in 
repose. His body will be in perfect equi- 
librium, if each of its members supports 
exactly that part of the weight which de- 



FORCES OF THE HORSE. 55 

volves upon it in this position. If he wishes 
to move forward at tl walk^ he must first 
transfer that part of the weight resting on 
the leg he moves first to those that will re- 
main fixed to the ground. It will be the 
same thing in other paces, the transfer act- 
ing from one diagonal to the other in the 
trot, from the front to the rear, and recipro- 
cally in the gallop. We must not then con- 
found the weight with the force; the latter 
determines, the former is subordinate to it. 
It is by carrying the weight from one ex- 
tremity to the other that the force puts 
them in motion, or makes them stationary. 
The slowness or quickness of the transfers 
fixes the different paces, which are correct 
or false, even or uneven, according as these 
transfers are executed with correctness or 
irregularity. 

It is understood that this motive power 
is subdivided ad ijifinitum, since it is spread 



56 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

over all the muscles of the animal. When 
the latter himself determines the use of 
them, the forces are instinctive ; I call them 
transmitted when they emanate from the 
rider. In the first case, the man governed 
by his horse remains the plaything of his 
caprices; in the second, on the contrary, he 
makes him a docile instrument, submissive 
to all the impulses of his will. The horse 
then, from the moment he is mounted, 
fShould only act by transmitted forces. The 
invariable application of this principle con- 
stitutes the true talent of the horseman. 

But such a result cannot be attained in- 
stantaneously. The young horse, in free- 
dom, having been accustomed to regulate 
his own movements, will, at first, submit 
with difficulty to the strange influence, 
which comes to take the entire control of 
them. A struggle necessarily ensues be- 
tween the horse and his rider, who will be 



FORCES OF THE HORSE. 57 

overcome unless lie is possessed of energy, 
patience, and, above all, the knowledge ne- 
cessary to gain his point. The forces of the 
animal being the element upon which the 
rider must principally work, first to con- 
quer, and finally, to direct them, it is neces- 
sary he should fix his attention upon these 
before anything else. He will study what 
they are, whence they spring, the parts 
where they contract the most for resistance, 
the physical causes which occasion these 
contractions. When this is discovered, he 
will proceed with his pupil by means in ac- 
cordance with his nature, and his progress 
w^ill then be rapid. 

Unfortunately, we search in vain in an- 
cient or modern authors, on horsemanship, 
I will not say for rational principles, but 
even for any data in connection with the 
forces of the horse. All speak very prettily 
about resistances, oppositions, lightness, and 



58 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

equilibrium ; but none of them have known 
how to tell us what causes these resistances, 
how we can combat them, destroy them, 
and obtain this lightness and equilibrium 
they so earnestly recommend. It is this 
gap that has caused the great doubts and 
obscurity about the principles of horseman- 
ship; it is this that has made the art sta- 
tionary so long a time; it is this gap that, 
I think, I am able to fill up. 

And first, I lay down the principle that 
all the resistances of young horses spring, in 
the first place, from a physical cause, and 
that this cause only becomes a moral one 
by the awkwardness, ignorance, and brutali- 
ty of the rider. In fact, besides the natural 
stiffness peculiar to all these animals, each 
of them has a peculiar conformation, the 
more or less of perfection in which consti- 
tutes the degree of harmony that exists be- 
tween the forces and the weight. The want 



FORCES OF THE HORSE. 59 

of this harmony occasions the ungraceful- 
ness of their paces, the difficulty of their 
movements; in a word, all the obstacles to 
a good education. In a state of freedom, 
whatever may be the bad structure of the 
horse, instinct is sufficient to enable him to 
make such a use of his forces as to main- 
tain his equilibrium; but there are move- 
ments it is impossible for him to make until 
a preparatory exercise shall have put him 
in the way of supplying the defects of his 
organization by a better combined use of his 
motive power. A horse puts himself in 
motion only in consequence of a given posi- 
tion; if his forces are such as to oppose 
themselves to this position, they must first 
be annulled, in order to replace them by 
the only ones which can lead to it. 

Now, I ask, if before overcoming these 
first obstacles, the rider adds to them the 
weight of his own body, and his unreason- 



60 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

able demands, will not the animal experi- 
ence still greater difficulty in executing cer- 
tain movements? The efforts we make to 
compel him to submission, being contrary to 
his nature, will they not find in it an insur- 
mountable obstacle ? He will naturally re- 
sist, and with so much the more advantage, 
that the bad distribution of his forces will 
of itself be sufficient to paralyze those of 
the rider. The resistance then emanates, in 
this case, from a physical cause : which be- 
comes a moral one from the moment when, 
the struggle going on with the same pro- 
cesses, the horse begins of his own accord 
to combine means of resisting the torture 
imposed on him, when we undertake to 
force into operation parts which have not 
previously been suppled. 

When things get into this state, they can 
only grow worse. The rider, soon disgusted 
with the impotence of his efforts, will cast 



FORCES BADLY DISTRIBUTED. 61 

back upon the horse the responsibility of 
his own ignorance 3 he will brand as a jade 
an animal possessing the most brilliant re- 
sources, and of whom, with more discern- 
ment and tact, he could have made a hack- 
ney as docile in character, as graceful and 
agreeable in his paces. I have often re- 
marked that horses considered indomitable 
are those which develop the most energy 
and vigor, when we know how to remedy 
those physical defects which prevent their 
making use of them. As to those which, in 
spite of their bad formation, are by a similar 
system made to show a semblance of obedi- 
ence, we need thank nothing but the soft- 
ness of their nature 5 if they can be made 
to submit to the simplest exercises, it is 
only on condition that we do not demand 
anything more of them, for they would 
soon find their energy again to resist any 
further attempts. The rider can then make 
6 



62 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

them go along at different paces to be sure; 
but how disconnected^ how stiff^ how un- 
graceful in their movements, and how ri- 
diculous such steeds make their unfortunate 
riders look, as they toss them about at will, 
instead of being guided by them ! This 
state of things is all perfectly natural, un- 
less we destroy the first cause of it : the had 
distribution of their forces, and the stiffness 
caused hy a had conformation. 

But, it is objected, since you allow that 
these difficulties are caused by the forma- 
tion of the horse, how is it possible to re- 
medy them ? You do not possibly pretend 
to change the structure of the animal and 
reform the work of nature? Undoubtedly 
not; but while I confess that it is impossi- 
ble to give more breadth to a narrow chest, 
to lengthen too short a neck, to lower too 
high a croup, to shorten and fill out long, 
weak, narrow loinS; I do not the less insist 



THE OLD METHODS. 63 

that if I prevent the different contractions 
occasioned by these physical defects, if I 
supple the muscles, if I make myself master 
of the forces so as to use them at will, it 
will be easy for me to prevent these resist- 
ances, to give more action to the weak 
parts, and to moderate those that are too 
vigorous, and thus make up for the deficien- 
cies of nature. 

Such results, I do not hesitate to say, 
were and still are for ever denied to the old 
methods. But if the science of those who 
follow the old beaten track finds so constant 
an obstacle in the great number of horses 
of defective formation, there are, unfortu- 
nately, some horses who, by the perfection 
of their organization, and the consequent 
facility of their education, contribute greatly 
to perpetuate the impotent routines, that 
have been so unfavorable to the progress of 
horsemanship. A well constituted horse is 



64 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

one, all of whose parts being regularly har- 
monized, induce the perfect equilibrium of 
the whole. It would be as difficult for such 
a subject to leave this natural equilibrium, 
and take up an improper position for the 
purpose of resistance, as it is at first painful 
for the badly formed horse to come into 
that just distribution of forces, without 
which no regularity of movement can be 
hoped for. 

It is then only in the education of these 
last that the real difficulties of horseman- 
ship consist. With the others the breaking 
ought to be, so to say, instantaneous, since, 
all the springs being in their places, there 
is nothing to be done but to put them in 
motion; this result is always obtained by 
my method. Yet the old principles demand 
two or three years to reach this point; and 
when by feeling your way without any cer- 
tainty of success, the horseman gifted with 



CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS. 65 

some tact and experience^ ends by accus- 
toming the horse to obey the impressions 
communicated to him, he imagines that he 
has surmounted great difficulties, and attri- 
butes to his skill a state so near that of 
nature, that correct principles would have 
obtained it in a few days. Then as the 
animal continues to display in all his move- 
ments the grace and lightness natural to his 
beautiful formation, the rider does not scru- 
ple to take all the merit to himself, thus 
showing himself as presumptuous in this 
case as he was unjust when he would make 
the badly formed horse responsible for the 
failure of his attempts. 

If we once admit these truths : — 

That the education of the horse consists 
in the complete subjection of his powers ; 

That we can only make use of his powers 
at will, by annulhng all resistances; 

And that these resistances have their 
6* 



66 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

source in the contractions occasioned by 
physical defects ; 

The only thing will be to seek out the 
parts where these contractions operate, in 
order to endeavor to oppose and destroy 
them. 

Long and conscientious observations have 
shown me that, whatever be the fault of 
formation that in the horse prevents a just 
distribution of his forces, it is always in the 
neck that the most immediate effect is felt. 
There is no improper movement, no resist- 
ance that is not preceded by the contraction 
of this part of the animal; and as the jaw 
is intimately connected with the neck, the 
stiffness of the one is instantly communi- 
cated to the other. These two points are 
the prop upon which the horse rests, in 
order to annul all the rider's efforts. We 
can easily conceive the immense obstacle 
they must present to the impulsions of the 



RECIPROCAL CONTRACTIONS. 67 

latter^ since the neck and head being the 
two principal levers by which we direct the 
animalj it is impossible to obtain anything 
from him until we are master of these first 
and indispensable means of action. Behind, 
the parts where the forces contract the most 
for resistance, are the loins and the croup 
(the haunches). 

The contractions of these two opposite 
extremities are, mutually the one to the 
other, causes and effects, that is to say, 
the stiffness of the neck induces that of the 
haunches, and reciprocally. We can com- 
bat the one by the other; and as soon as we 
have succeeded in annulling them, as soon 
as we have re-established the equilibrium 
and harmony that they prevented between 
the fore and hind-parts, the education of the 
horse will be half finished. I will now 
point out the means of infallibly arriving at 
this result. 



68 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



III. 

THE SUPPLINGS. 

This work being an exposition of a me- 
thod which upsets most of the old principles 
of horsemanship, it is understood that I 
only address men already conversant with 
the art, and who join to an assured seat a 
sufficiently great familiarity with the horse, 
to understand all that concerns his mechan- 
ism. I will not, then, revert to the elemeni> 
ary processes; it is for the instructor to 
judge if his pupil possesses a proper degree 
of solidity of seat, and is sufficiently a part 
of the horse; for at the same time that a 
good seat produces this identification, it 
favors the easy and regular play of the rid- 
er's extremities. 

My present object is to treat principally 



NECESSITY OF SUPPLING. 69 

of the education of the horse ; but this edu- 
cation is too intimately bound up in that of 
the rider^ for him to make much progress in 
one without the other. In explaining the 
processes which should produce perfection 
in the animal, I will necessarily teach the 
horseman to apply them himself; he will 
only have to practice to-morrow what I 
teach him to-day. Nevertheless, there is 
one thing that no precept can give ; that is, 
a fineness of touch, a delicacy of equestrian 
feeling that belongs only to certain privi- 
leged organizations, and without which, we 
seek in vain to pass certain limits. Having 
said this, we will return to our subject. 

We now know which are the parts of 
the horse that contract the most in resist- 
ances, and we feel the necessity of suppling 
them. Shall we then seek to attack, exer- 
cise, and conquer them all at once? No; 
this would be to fall back into the old error, 



70 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

of the inefficiency of which we are con- 
vinced. The animal's muscular power is 
infinitely superior to ours; his instinctive 
forces^ moreover^ being able to sustain them- 
selves the one by the others^ we will inevi- 
tably be conquered if we set them in motion 
all at once. Since the contractions have 
their seat in separate parts, let us profit by 
this division to combat them separately, as 
a skilful general destroys, in detail, forces 
which, when together, he would be unable 
to resist. 

For the rest, whatever the age, the dispo- 
sition, and the structure of my pupil, my 
course of proceeding at the start will be al- 
ways the same. The results will only be 
more or less prompt and easy, according to 
the degree of perfection in his nature, and 
the influence of the hand to which he has 
been previously subjected. The suppling, 
which will have no other object in the case 



HEAD AND NECK. 71 

of a well made horse than that of preparing 
his forces to yield to our impulsions, will 
re-establish calm and confidence in a horse 
that has been badly handled, and in a de- 
fective formation will make those contrac- 
tions disappear, which are the causes of 
resistances, and the only obstacles to a per- 
fect equilibrium. The difficulties to be 
surmounted will be in proportion to this 
complication of obstacles, and will quickly 
disappear with a little perseverance on our 
part. In the progression we are about to 
pursue in order to subject the different parts 
of the animal to suppling, we will natu- 
rally commence with the most important 
parts, that is to say, with the jaw and neck. 
The head and neck of the horse are at 
once the rudder and compass of the rider. 
By them he directs the animal ; by them, 
also, he can judge of the regularity and 
precision of his movements. The equili- 



72 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

brium of the whole body is perfect, its 
lightness complete, when the head and neck 
remain of themselves easy, pliable, and 
graceful. On the contrary, there can be no 
elegance, no ease of the whole, when these 
two parts are stiff. Preceding the body of 
the horse in all its impulsions, they ought 
to give warning, and show by their attitude 
the positions to be taken, and the move- 
ments to be executed. The rider has no 
power so long as they remain contracted 
and rebellious; he disposes of the animal at 
will, when once they are flexible and easily 
handled. If the head and neck do not first 
commence the changes of direction, if in 
circular movements they are not inclined in 
a curved line, if in backing they do not 
bend back upon themselves, and if their 
lightness is not always in harmony with 
the different paces at which we wish to go, 
the horse will be free to execute these 



STIFFNESS OF NECK. 73 

movements or not^ since he will remain 
master of the employment of his own forces. 
From the time I first noticed the power- 
ful influence that the stiffness of the neck 
exercises on the whole mechanism of the 
horsC; I attentively sought the means to 
remedy it. The resistances to the hand are 
always either side way S; upward^ or down- 
ward. I at first considered the neck alone 
as the source of these resistances, and exer- 
cised myself in suppling the animal by flex- 
ionSj repeated in every direction. The re- 
sult was immense; but although, at the end 
of a certain time, the supplings of the neck 
rendered me perfectly master of the forces 
of the fore-parts of the horse, I still felt a 
slight resistance which I could not at first 
account for. At last I discovered that it 
proceeded from the jaw. The flexibility I 
had communicated to the neck even aided 
this stiffness of the muscles of the lower 
7 



74 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

jaw, by permitting the horse in certain 
cases to escape the action of the bit. I 
then bethought me of the means of com- 
bating these resistances in this, their last 
stronghold, and from that time, it is there 
I always commence my work of suppling. 

First exercise on foot. — Means of making 
the horse come to the man, of making him 
steady to mount, &c. &c. 

Before commencing the exercises of flex- 
ions, it is essential to give the horse a first 
lesson of subjection, and teach him to re- 
cognize the power of man. This first act of 
submission, which might appear unimport- 
ant, will have the effect of quickly render- 
ing him calm, of giving him confidence, and 
of repressing all those movements which 
might distract his attention, and mar the 
success of the commencement of his educa- 
tion. 

Two lessons, of a half hour each, will 



FIRST EXERCISE ON FOOT. 75 

suffice to obtain the preparatory obedience 
of every horse. The pleasure we experience 
in thus playing with him will naturally 
lead the rider to continue this exercise for a 
few moments each day, and make it both 
instructive to the horse and useful to him- 
self. The mode of proceeding is as follows : 
the rider will approach the horse, his whip 
under his arm, without roughness or timi- 
dity; he will speak to him without raising 
the voice too much, and will pat him on 
the face and neck; then with the left hand 
will lay hold of the curb reins, about six or 
seven inches from the branches of the bit, 
keeping his wrist stiif, so as to present as 
much force as possible when the horse re- 
sists. The whip will be held firmly in the 
right hand, the point towards the ground, 
then slowly raised as high as his chest, in 
order to tap it at intervals of a second. 
The first natural movement of the horse 



76 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

will be to withdraw from the direction in 
which the pain conies; it is by backing that 
he will endeavor to do this. The rider will 
follow this backward movement without dis- 
continuing the firm tension of the reins^ nor 
the little taps with the whip on the breast, 
ajDplying them all the time with the same 
degree of intensity. The rider should be 
perfectly self-possessed, that there may be 
no indication of anger or weakness in his 
motions or looks. Becoming tired of this 
constraint, the horse will soon seek by an- 
other movement to avoid the infliction, and 
it is by coming forward that he will arrive 
at it; the rider will seize this second in- 
stinctive movement to stop and caress the 
animal with his hand and voice. The re- 
petition of this exercise will give the most 
surprising results, even in the first lesson. 
The horse having discovered and under- 
stood the means by which he can avoid the 



EFFECTS OF THIS TRAINING. 77 

pain, will not wait till the whip touches 
him^ he will anticipate it by rushing for- 
ward at the least gesture. The rider will 
take advantage of this to effect^, by a down- 
ward force of the bridle hand^ the depres- 
sion of the neck; and the getting him in 
hand; he will thus early dispose the horse 
for the exercises that are to follow. 

This training, besides being a great recre- 
ation, will serve to make the horse steady 
to mount; will greatly abridge his educa- 
tion, and accelerate the development of his 
intelligence. Should the horse by reason of 
his restless or wild nature become very un- 
ruly, we should have recourse to the caves- 
SOU; as a means of repressing his disorderly 
movements, and use it with little jerks. I 
would add that it requires great prudence 
and discernment to use it with tact and 

moderation. 

7* 



78 METHOD OP HORSEMANSHIP. 

Flexion of the jaw. — The flexions of the 
jaw, as well as the two flexions of the neck 
which folloW; are executed standing still, 
the man on foot. The horse will be led on 
the ground saddled and bridled, the reins 
on his neck. The man will first see that 
the bit is properly placed in the horse's 
mouth, and that the curb-chain is fastened 
so that he can introduce his finger between 
the links and the horse's chin. Then look- 
ing the animal good-naturedly in the eyes, 
he will place himself before him near his 
head, holding his body straight and firm, 
his feet a little apart to steady himself, and 
dispose himself to struggle with advantage 
against all resistances.* 

* I have divided all the flexions into two parts, and, 
in order to facilitate the understanding of the text, I 
have added to it plates representing the position of the 
horse at the moment the flexion is about to commence, 
and at the moment it is terminated. 



FLEXION OF THE JAW. 79 

1st. In order to execute the flexion to 
the rightj the man will take hold of the 
right curb-rein with the right haiid, at about 
six inches from the branch of the bit; and 
the left rein with the left hand^ at only 
three inches from the left branch. He will 
then draw his right hand towards his body^ 
pushing out his left hand so as to turn the 
bit in the horse's mouth. The force em- 
ployed ought to be entirely determined by 
and proportioned to the resistance of the 
jaw and neck only, in order not to affect the 
wplomhy which keeps his body still. If the 
horse back to avoid the flexion, the opposi- 
tion of the hands should still be continued. 
If the preceding exercise has been complete- 
ly and carefully practiced, it will be easy by 
the aid of the whip to prevent this retro- 
grade movement, which is a great obstacle 
to all kinds of flexions of the jaw and neck. 
(Plate!) . 



80 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

2d. As soon as the flexion is obtained, 
the left hand will let the left rein slip to 
the same length as the right, then drawing 
the two reins equally will bring the head 
near to the breast, in order to hold it there 
oblique and perpendicular, until it sustains 
itself without assistance in this position. 
The horse by champing the bit will show 
his being in hand as well as his perfect sub- 
mission. The man, to reward him, will 
cease drawing on the reins immediately, and 
after some seconds will allow him to resume 
his natural position. (Plate II.) 

The flexion of the jaw to the left is exe- 
cuted upon the same principles and by in- 
verse means to the flexion to the right, the 
man being careful to pass alternately from 
one to the other. 

The importance of these flexions of the 
jaw is easily understood. The result of 
them is to prepare the horse to yield in- 



IMPORTANCE OF THESE FLEXIONS. 81 

stantly to the lightest pressure of the bit, 
and to supple directly the muscles that join 
the head to the neck. As the head ought 
to precede and determine the different atti- 
tudes of the neck, it is indispensable that 
the latter part be always in subjection to 
the other, and respond to its impulsions. 
That would be only partially the case with 
the flexibility of the neck alone, which 
would then make the head obey it, by 
drawing it along in its movements. You 
see, then, why at first I experienced resist- 
ances, in spite of the pliability of the neck, 
of which I could not imagine the cause. 
The followers of my method to whom I 
have not yet had an opportunity of making 
known the new means just explained, will 
learn with pleasure that this process not 
only brings the flexibility of the neck to a 
greater degree of perfection, but saves much 
time in finishing the suppling. The exer- 



82 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

cise of the jaW; while fashioning the mouth 
and head, brings along with it the flexion 
of the neck, and accelerates the getting the 
horse in hand. 

This exercise is the first of our attempts 
to accustom the forces of the horse to yield 
to ours. It is necessary then to manage it 
very nicely, so as not to discourage him at 
first. To enter on the flexion roughly 
would be to shock the animal's intelligence, 
who would not have had time to compre- 
hend what was required of him. The op- 
position of the hands will be commenced 
gently but firmly, not to cease until perfect 
obedience is obtained, except indeed the 
horse backs against a wall, or into a corner; 
but it will diminish or increase its efiect in 
proportion to the resistance, in a way al- 
ways to govern it, but not with too great 
violence. The horse that at first will, per- 
haps, submit with difficulty, will end by re- 



DEPRESSION OF NECK. 83 

garding the man's hand as an irresistible 
regulator, and will become so used to obey- 
ing it, that we will soon obtain, by a simple 
pressure of the rein, what at first required 
the whole strength of our arms. 

At each renewal of the lateral flexions 
some progress will be made in the obedience 
of the horse. As soon as his first resist- 
ances are a little diminished, we will pass 
to the perpendicular flexions or depression 
of the neck. 

Depression of the neck hy the direct flexion 
of the jaw. — 1. The man will place himself 
as for the lateral flexions of the jaw; he 
will take hold of the reins of the snaffle 
with the left hand, at six inches from the 
rings, and the curb-reins at about two inches 
from the bit. He will oppose the two hands 
by effecting the depression with the left and 
the proper position with the right. (Plate 

III.) 



84 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

2. As soon as the horse's head shall fall 
of its own accord and by its own weight, 
the man will instantly cease all kind of 
force, and allow the animal to resume his 
natural position. (Plate lY.) 

This exercise being often repeated, will 
soon bring about the suppling of the elevat- 
ing muscles of the neck, which play a pro- 
minent part in the resistances of the horse, 
and will besides facilitate the direct flexions 
and the getting the head in position, which 
should follow the lateral flexions. The man 
can execute this, as well as the preceding 
exercise, by himself 5 yet it would be well to 
put a second person in the saddle, in order 
to accustom the horse to the exercise of the 
supplings with a rider. This rider should 
just hold the snaffle-reins, without drawing 
on them, in his right hand, the nails down- 
ward. 

The flexions of the jaw have already 





SmdcaysZrfiPi/ 



DEPKESSION OF NECK. 85 

communicated suppleness to the upper part 
of the neck^ but we have obtained it by 
means of a powerful and direct motive 
power, and we must accustom the horse to 
yield to a less direct regulating force. Be- 
sides, it is important that the pliability and 
flexibility, especially necessary in the upper 
part of the neck, should be transmitted 
throughout its whole extent, so as to de- 
stroy its stiffness entirely. 

The force from above downward, prac- 
ticed with the snaffle, acting only by the 
head-stall on the top of the head, often 
takes too long to make the horse lower his 
head. In this case, we must cross the two 
snaffle-reins by taking the left rein in the 
right, and the right rein in the left hand, 
about six or seven inches from the horse's 
mouth, in such a way as to cause a pretty 
strong pressure upon the chin. This force, 
like all the others, must be continued until 
8 



86 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the horse yields. The flexions being re- 
peated with this more powerful agent^ will 
put him in a condition to respond to the 
means previously indicated. If the horse 
responded to the first flexions represented 
by plate IV., it would be unnecessary to 
make use of this one. (Plate Y.) 

We can act directly on the jaw so as to 
render it prompt in moving. To do this, 
we take the left curb-rein about six inches 
from the horse's mouth and draw it straight 
towards the left shoulder; at the same time 
draw the left rein of the snaflle forward, in 
such a way that the wrists of the person 
holding the two reins shall be opposite and 
on a level with each other. The two op- 
posed forces will soon cause a separation of 
the jaws, and end all resistance. The force 
ought to be always proportioned to that of 
the horse, whether in his resistance, or in 
his lightness. Thus, by means of this di- 



r^ 



LATERAL FLEXIONS OF THE NECK. 87 

rect force, a few lessons will be sufficient to 
give a pliability to the part in question that 
could not have been obtained by any other 
means. (Plate VI.) 

Lateral flexions of the neck.-^l. The man 
will place himself near the horse's shoulder 
as for the flexions of the jaw; he will take 
hold of the right snaffle-rein, which he will 
draw upon across the neck, in order to 
establish an intermediate point between the 
impulsion that comes from him and the re- 
sistance the horse presents; he will hold up 
the left rein with the left hand about a foot 
from the bit. As soon as the horse endeav- 
ors to avoid the constant tension of the 
right rein by inclining his head to the 
right, he will let the left rein slip so as to 
offer no opposition to the flexion of the 
neck. Whenever the horse endeavors to 
escape the constraint of the right rein by 
bringing his croup around, he will be 



88 METHOD OF HOKSEMANSHIP. 

brought into place again by slight pulls of 
the left rein. (Plate VII.) 

2. When the head and neck have entirely 
yielded to the right, the man will draw 
equally on both reins to place the head per- 
pendicularly. Suppleness and lightness will 
soon follow this position, and as soon as 
the horse evinces, by champing the bit, en- 
tire freedom from stiffness, the man will 
cease the tension of the reins, being careful 
that the head does not take advantage of 
this moment of freedom to displace itself 
suddenly. In this case, it will be sufficient 
to restrain it by a slight support of the right 
rein. After having kept the horse in this 
position for some seconds, he will make him 
resume his former position by drawing on 
the left rein. It is most important that the 
animal in all his movements should do no- 
thing of his own accord. (Plate YIII.) 

The flexion of the neck to the left is exe- 





PL. 8. 



LATERAL FLEXIONS ON HORSEBACK. 89 

cuted after the same principles^ but by in- 
verse means. The man can repeat with 
the curb, what he has previously done with 
the snaffle-reins; but the snaffle should al- 
ways be employed first, its elFect being less 
powerful and more direct. 

"When the horse submits without resist- 
ance to the preceding exercises, it will prove 
that the suppling of the neck has already 
made a great step. The rider can, hence- 
forward, continue his work by operating 
with a less direct motive power, and with= 
out the animal's being impressed by the 
sight of him. He will place himself in the 
saddle, and commence by repeating with 
the full length of the reins, the lateral flex- 
ions, in which he has already exercised his 
horse. 

Lateral flexions of the neck, the man on 
horsebach, — 1. To execute the flexion to the 
8* 



90 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

right, the rider will take one snaffle-rein in 
each hand, the left scarcely feeling the bit; 
the right, on the contrary, giving a mode- 
rate impression at first, but which will in- 
crease in proportion to the resistance of the 
horse, and in a way always to govern him. 
The animal soon tired of a struggle which, 
being prolonged, only makes the pain pro- 
ceeding from the bit more acute, will under- 
stand that the only way to avoid it is to 
incline the head in the direction the pres- 
sure is felt. (Plate IX.) 

2. As soon as the horse's head is brought 
round to the right, the left rein will form 
opposition, to prevent the nose from passing 
beyond the perpendicular. Great stress 
should be laid on the head's remaining al- 
ways in this position, without which the 
flexion would be imperfect and the supple- 
ness incomplete. The movement being re- 
gularly accomplished, the horse will be 



LATEEAL FLEXIONS ON HOESEBACK. 91 

made to resume his natural position by a 
slight tension of the left rein. (Plate X.) 

The flexion to the left is executed in the 
same way, the rider employing alternately 
the snaffle and curb-reins. 

I have already mentioned that it is of 
great importance to supple the upper part 
of the neck. After mounting, and having 
obtained the lateral flexions without resist- 
ance, the rider will often content himself 
with executing them half-way, the head and 
upper part of the neck pivoting upon the 
lower part, which will serve as a base, or 
axis. This exercise must be frequently re- 
peated, even after the horse's education is 
completed, in order to keep up the pliabi- 
lity, and facilitate the getting him in hand. 

It now remains for us, in order to com- 
plete the suppling of the head and neck, to 
combat the contractions which occasion the 
direct resistances, and prevent your getting 



92 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

the horse's head in a perpendicular posi- 
tion. 

Direct flexions of the head and neck^ or 
ramener,^ — 1. The rider will first use the 
snaffle-reins, which he will hold together in 
the left hand, as he would the curb-reins. 
He will rest the outer edge of the right 
hand (see Plate XI.) on the reins in front of 
the left hand, in order to increase the power 
of the right hand; after which he will 
gradually bear on the snaffle-bit. As soon 
as the horse yields, it would suffice to raise 
the right hand to diminish the tension of 
the reins, and reward the animal. As the 
hand must only present a force propor- 
tioned to the resistance of the neck, it will 
only be necessary to hold the legs rather 
close to prevent backingo When the horse 

* Ramener means to place the horse's head in a per- 
pendicular position. — Translator. 



RAMENER. 93 

obeys the action of the snaffle, he will yield 
much more quickly to that of the curb, the 
effect of which is so much more powerful. 
The curb, of course, needs more care in the 
use of it than the snaffle. (Plate XI.) 

2. The horse will have completely yield- 
ed to the action of the hand, when his head 
is carried in a position perfectly perpendicu- 
lar to the ground ; from that time the con- 
traction will cease, which the animal will 
show, as in every other case, by champing 
his bit. The rider must be careful not to 
be deceived by the feints of the horse, feints 
which consist in yielding one-fourth or oner 
third of the way, and then hesitating. If, 
for example, the nose of the horse having 
to pass over a curve of ten degrees to at- 
tain the perpendicular position (Plate XI.), 
should stop at the fourth or sixth and again 
resist, the hand should follow the move- 
ment, and then remain firm and immov- 



94 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

able, for a concession on its part would en- 
courage resistance and increase the difficul- 
ties. When the nose shall descend to No. 
10, the perpendicular position will be com- 
plete, and the lightness perfect. The rider 
can then cease the tension of the reins, but 
so as to keep the head in this position, if it 
should offer to leave it. If he lets it return 
at all to its natural situation, it should be 
to draw it in over again, and to make the 
animal understand that the perpendicular 
position of the head is the only one allowed 
when under the rider's hand. He should, 
at the outset, accustom the horse to cease 
backing at the pressure of the legs, as all 
backward movements would enable him to 
avoid the effects of the hand, or create new 
means of resistance. (Plate XII.) 

This is the most important flexion of all; 
the others tended principally to pave the 
way for it. As soon as it is executed with 



RAMENEE. 95 

ease and promptness^ as soon as a slight 
touch is sufficient to place and keep the 
head in a perpendicular position, it will 
prove that the suppling is complete, con- 
traction destroyed, lightness and equilibrium 
established in the fore-hand. The direction 
of this part of the animal will, hencefor- 
ward, be as easy as it is natural, since we 
have put it in a condition to receive all our 
impressions, and instantly to yield to them 
without effort. 

As to the functions of the legs, they must 
support the hind-parts of the horse, in order 
to obtain the ramener, in such a way that 
he may not be able to avoid the effect of 
the hand by a retrograde movement of his 
body. This complete getting in hand is 
necessary to drive the hind-legs under the 
centre. In the first case, we act upon the 
fore-hand, in the second, upon the hind- 
parts; the first serves for the ramener, the 



96 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

second for the rassemhler^ or gathering the 
horse.* 

Combination of effects, — I published four 
editions of my Method, without devoting a 
special article to the combination of eflfects. 
Although I myself made a very frequent 
use of it, I had not attached sufficient im- 
portance to the great necessity of this prin- 
ciple in the case of teaching; later experi- 
ments have taught me to consider it of more 
consequence. 

The combination of effects means the con- 
tinued and exactly opposed force of the 
hand and legs. Its object should be to 
bring back again into a position of equili- 

* The full meaning of the word rassemhler will be 
understood after reading the chapter, further on in this 
work, under that head. With regard to the other word, 
ramenerj to avoid the constant circumlocution of saying, 
" placing the horse's head in a perpendicular position," it 
will be used in future wherever it occurs. — Translator. 



COMBINATION OF EFFECTS. 97 

brium all the parts of the horse which leave 
it, in order to prevent him from going ahead, 
without backing him, and vice versa : finally, 
it serves to stop any movement from the 
right to the left, or the left to the right. 
By this means, also, we distribute the weight 
of the mass equally on the four legs, and 
produce temporary immobility. This com- 
bination of effects ought to precede and fol- 
low each exercise within the graduated 
limit assigned to it. It is essential when 
we employ the aids (i. e. the hand and legs) 
in this, that the action of the legs should 
precede the other, in order to prevent the 
horse from backing against any place, for 
he might find, in this movement, points of 
support that would enable him to increase 
his resistance. Thus, all motion of the 
extremities, proceeding from the horse him- 
self, should be stopped by a combination of 



98 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

effects ; finally, whenever Ms forces get scat- 
tered, and act inharmoniously, the rider 
will find in this a powerful and infallible 
corrective. 

It is by disposing all the parts of the 
horse in the most exact order, that we will 
easily transmit to him the impulsion that 
should cause the regular movements of his 
extremities; it is then also that we will ad- 
dress his comprehension, and that he will 
appreciate what we demand of him; then 
will follow caresses of the hand and voice 
as a moral effect; they should not be used, 
though, until after he has done what is 
demanded of him by the rider's hand and 
legs. 

The lioTses resting Ms chin on his hreast. — 
Although few horses are disposed by nature 
to do this, it is not the less necessary, when 
it does occur, to practice on them all the 
flexions, even the one which bends down 



RESTING THE CHIN ON BREAST. 99 

the neck. In this position, the horse's chin 
comes back near the breast and rests in 
contact with the lower part of the neck; 
too high a croup, joined to a permanent 
contraction of the muscles that lower the 
neck, is generally the cause of it. These 
muscles must then be suppled in order to 
destroy their intensity, and thereby give to 
the muscles that raise the neck, their anta- 
gonists, the predominance which will make 
the neck rest in a graceful and useful posi- 
tion. This first accomplished, the horse 
will be accustomed to go forward freely at 
the pressure of the legs, and to respond, 
without abruptness or excitement, to the 
touch of the spurs (attaques) ; the object of 
these last is to bring the hind legs near the 
centre, and to lower the croup. The rider 
will then endeavor to raise the horse's head 
by the aid of the curb-reins; in this case, 
the hand will be held some distance above 



100 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the saddle, and far from the body;* the 
force it transmits to the horse ought to be 
continued until he yields by elevating his 
head. As these sorts of horses have gene- 
rally little action, we must take care to 
avoid letting the hand produce an effect 
from the front to the rear, in which case it 
would take away from the impulse neces- 
sary for movement. The pace commencing 
with the walk, must be kept up at the same 
rate, while the hand is producing an elevat- 
ing effect upon the neck. This precept is 
applicable to all the changes of position that 
the hand makes in the head and neck ; but 
is particularly essential in the case of a 
horse disposed to depress his neck. 

* This position of the hand at a distance from the 
saddle and the body will be criticized j but let the rider 
be reassured, eight or ten lessons will suffice to make the 
horse change the position of his head, and allow the hand 
to resume its normal position. 



FALSE AND TRUE YIELDING. 101 

It should be remembered that the horse 
has two ways of responding to the pressure 
of the bit 3 by one, he yields but withdraws 
himself from it at the same time by shrink- 
ing and coming back to his former position ; 
this kind of yielding is only injurious to his 
education, for if the hand is held too forci- 
bly, if it does not wait till the horse changes 
of his own accord the position of his head, 
the backward movement of his body would 
precede, and be accompanied by a shifting 
of the weight backwards. In this case, the 
contraction of his neck remains all the 
while the same. The second kind of yield- 
ing, which contributes so greatly to the 
rapid and certain education of the horse, 
consists in giving a half or three-quarter 
tension to the reins, then to sustain the 
hand as forcibly as possible without bring- 
ing it near the body. In a short time the 
force of the hand, seconded by the continued 
9* 



102 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

pressure of the legs, will make the horse 
avoid this slight but constant pressure of 
the bit, but by means of his head and neck 
only. Then the rider will only make use 
of the force necessary to displace the head. 
It is by this means that he will be able to 
place the horse's body on a level, and will 
obtain that equilibrium,* the perfect balance 

^ The word equilibrium, so often repeated in the 
course of this work, must be categorically explained. 
People have never rightly understood what it means, this 
true equilibrium of a horse, which serves as the basis of 
his education, and by which he takes instantly, at the 
rider's will, such a pace, or such a change of direction. 

It is not here a question of the equilibrium which pre- 
vents the horse from falling down, but of that upon 
which depends his performance, when it is prompt, grace- 
ful, and regular, and by means of which his paces are 
either measured or extended at will. 

Equilihrium of Baucher. 

Croup Head. 

Here the weight and the forces are equally distributed. 



EQUILIBEIUM. 103 

of which has not hitherto been appreci- 
ated. 

Eesuming what we have just explained 
in the case of a horse who rests his chin on 
his breast, we repeat that it is by producing 
one force from the rear to the front with 
the legSj and another from below upwards 
with the handj that we will soon be enabled 
to improve the position and movements of 
the horse. So that whatever may be his 
disposition at first, it is by first causing the 
depression of the neck that we will quickly 
gain a masterly and perfect elevation of it. 

I will close this chapter by some reflec- 
tions on the supposed difference of sensibi- 
lity in horses' mouths, and the kind of bit 
which ought to be used. 

By means of this just distribution^ the different posi- 
tions, the different paces, and the equilibriums that be- 
long to them, are obtained without effort on the part of 
man or horse. 



104 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

Of the lioTses moutJi and ilie hit, — I have 
already treated this subject at length in my 
Comprehensive Dictionary of Equitation; 
but as in this work I make a complete ex- 
position of my method^ I think it necessary 
to repeat it in a few words. 

I cannot imagine how people have been 
able &a long to attribute to the mere differ- 
ence of formation of the bars,* those con- 
trary dispositions of horses which render 
them so light or so hard to the hand. How 
can we believe that, according as a horse 
has one or two lines of flesh, more or less, 
between the bit and the bone of the lower 
jaw, he should yield to the" lightest impulse 
of the hand, or become unmanageable in 
spite of all the efforts of two vigorous arms ? 
Nevertheless it is from remaining in this in- 

* The bars are the continuations of the two bones of 
the lower jaw, between the masticating and the front 
teeth. It is on these that the bit rests. 



OF THE MOUTH AND THE BIT. 105 

conceivable error, that people have forged 
bits of so strange and various forms, real 
instruments of torture, the effect of which 
is to increase the difficulties they sought to 
remove. 

Had they gone back a little further to 
the source of the resistances, they would 
have discovered that this one, like all the 
rest, does not proceed from the difference of 
formation of a feeble organ like the bars, 
but from a contraction communicated to the 
different parts of the body, and above all, 
to the neck, by some serious fault of consti- 
tution. It is then in vain that we attach 
to the reins, and place in the horse's mouth 
a more or less murderous instrument; he 
will remain insensible to our efforts as long 
as we do not communicate suppleness to 
him, which alone can enable him to yield. 

In the first place, then, I lay dov/n as a 
fact, that there is no difference of sensi- 



106 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

bility in the mouths of horses; that all 
present the- same lightness when in the 
position called ramener, and the same re- 
sistances in proportion as they recede from 
this position. There are horses hard to 
the hand; but this hardness proceeds from 
the length or weakness of their loins^ from 
a narrow croup, from short haunches, 
thin thighs, straight hocks, or (a most im- 
portant point) from a croup too high or 
too low in proportion to the withers; 
such are the true causes of resistances; 
the contraction of the neck, the closing of 
the jaws are only the effects; as to the bars 
they are only there to show the ignorance 
of self-styled equestrian theoricians. By 
suppling the neck and the jaw, this hard- 
ness completely disappears. Experiments a 
hundred times repeated give me the right 
to advance this principle boldly; perhaps it 
may, at first, appear too arbitrary, but it is 
none the less true. 



FORM OF THE BIT. 107 

Consequently I only allow one kind of 
bit, and this is the form and the dimensions 
I give it, to make it as simple as it is easy. 

The branches straight and six inches 
long, measuring from the eye of the bit to 
the extremity of the branch; circumference 
of the canon,* two inches and a half; port, 
about two inches wide at the bottom, and 
one inch at the top. The only variation to 
be in the width of the bit, according to the 
horse's mouth. 

I insist that such a bit is sufiicient to 
render passively obedient all horses that 
have been prepared by supplings; and I 
need not add that, as I deny the utility of 
severe bits, I reject all means not coming 
directly from the rider, such as martingales, 
piliers, &c. 

* The mouth-piece of the bit consists of three parts, 
the port^ to give freedom to the tongue, and the two 
canons, which are the parts that come in contact with 
the bars.— Translator. 



108 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 



IV. 

CONTINUATION OF SUPPLINGS. 

The hind'jparts.—hi order to guide the 
horsej the rider acts directly on two of his 
parts; the fore-parts and the hind-parts. 
To effect this he employs two motive pow- 
ers: the legs^ which give the impulse by 
the croup ; and the hand^ which directs and 
modifies this impulse by the head and neck. 
A perfect harmony of forces ought then to 
exist always between these two motive 
powers; but the same harmony is equally 
necessary between the parts of the animal 
they are intended particularly to impress. 
In vain would be our labor to render the 
head and neck flexible, light, obedient to the 
touch of the hand ; incomplete would be the 
results, the equilibrium of the whole imper- 



FLEXIONS OF THE CROUP. 109 

feet, as long as the croup remained dull, 
contracted, and rebellious to the direct gov- 
erning agent. 

I have just explained the simple and 
easy means of giving to the fore-parts the 
qualities indispensable to a good manage- 
ment thereof: it remains to tell how we 
will fashion, in the same way, the hind- 
parts, in order to complete the suppling of 
the horse, and bring about a uniform har- 
mony in the development of all his moving 
parts. The resistances of the neck and 
croup mutually aiding one another, our 
labor will be more easy, as we have already 
destroyed the former. 

The flexions of the croup, and making it 
mavahle. — 1. The rider will hold the curb- 
reins in the left hand, and those of the 
snaffle, crossed, in the right, the nails of the 
right hand held downward; he will first 
bring the horse's head into a perpendicular 
10 



110 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

position, by drawing lightly on the bit; 
after that, if he wishes to execute the move- 
ment to the right, he will carry the left leg 
back behind the girths and Rx. it near the 
flanks of the animal, until the croup yields 
to this pressure. The rider will at the 
same time make the left snaffle-rein felt, 
proportioning the effect of the rein to the 
resistance which is opposed to it. Of these 
two forces transmitted thus by the left leg 
and the rein of the same side, the first is 
intended to combat the resistance, and the 
second, to determine the movement. The 
rider should content himself in the begin- 
ning with making the croup execute one or 
two steps only sideways. (Plate XIII.) 

2. The croup having acquired more faci- 
lity in moving, we can continue the move- 
ment so as to complete to the right and 
the left reversed pirouettes.* As soon as the 

* See note, page 117. 




^\ 




REYERSED PIROUETTE. Ill 

haunches yield to the pressure of the leg, 
the rider, to cause the perfect equilibrium 
of the horse, will immediately draw upon 
the rein opposite to this leg. The motion 
of this, slight at first, will be progressively 
increased until the head is inclined to the 
side towards which the croup is moving, 
as if to look at it coming. (Plate XI Y.) 

To make this movement understood, I 
will add some explanations, the more im- 
portant as they are applicable to all the 
exercises of horsemanship. 

The horse, in all his movements, cannot 
preserve a perfect and constant equilibrium, 
without a combination of opposite forces, 
skillfully managed by the rider. In the re- 
versed pirouette, for example, if when the 
horse has yielded to the pressure of the leg, 
we continue to oppose the rein on the same 
side as this leg, it is evident that we will 
shoot beyond the mark, since we will be 



112 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

employing a force wliich has become use- 
less. We must then establish two motive 
powers, the effect of which balances, with- 
out interfering; this, the tension of the 
rein on the opposite side from the leg will 
produce in the pirouette. So, we will com- 
mence with the rein and the leg of the 
same side, until it is time to pass to the 
second part of the work, then with the 
curb-rein in the left hand, and finally, with 
the snafSe-rein opposite to the leg. The 
forces will then be kept in a diagonal posi- 
tion, and in consequence, the equilibrium 
natural, and the execution of the movement 
easy. The horse's head being turned to 
the side where the croup is moving, adds 
much to the gracefulness of the perform- 
ance, and aids the rider in regulating the 
activity of the haunches, and keeping the 
shoulders in place. For the rest, tact alone 
will be able to show him how to use the 



ADVANTAGES TO BE PRESERVED. 113 

leg and the rein, in such a way that their 
motions will mutually sustain, without at 
any time counteracting one another. 

I need not remind you that during the 
whole of this exercise, as on all occasions, 
the neck should remain supple and light; 
the head in position (perpendicular) and 
the jaw movable. While the bridle hand 
keeps them in this proper position, the right 
hand, with the aid of the snaffle, is combat- 
ing the lateral resistances, and determining 
the different inclinations, until the horse is 
sufficiently well broken to obey a simple 
pressure of the bit. If, when combating 
the contraction of the croup, we permitted 
the horse to throw its stiffness into the fore- 
parts, our efforts would be vain, and the 
fruit of our first labors lost. On the con- 
trary, we will facilitate the subjection of 
the hind-parts, by preserving the advantages 
we have already acquired over the fore- 
10* 



114 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

parts, and by keeping separated those con- 
tractions we have yet to combat. 

The leg of the rider opposite to that 
which determines the rotation of the croup, 
must not be kept off during the movement, 
but remain close to the horse and keep him 
in place, while giving from the rear forward 
an impulse which the other leg communi- 
cates from right to left, or from left to right. 
There will thus be one force which keeps 
the horse in position, and another which 
determines the rotation. In order that the 
pressure of the two legs should not counter- 
act one another, and in order to be able to 
use them both together, the leg intended to 
move the croup will be placed farther be- 
hind the girths than the other, which will 
remain held with a force equal to that of 
the leg that determines the movement. 
Then the action of the legs will be distinct, 
the one bearing from right to left, the other 



EMPLOYMENT OF AN ASSISTANT. 115 

from the rear forwards. It is by the aid of 
the latter that the hand places and fixes 
the fore-legs. 

To accelerate these results, at first, a second 
person may be employed, who will place 
himself at the height of the horse's head, 
holding the curb-reins in the right hand, 
and on the side opposite to which we wish 
the croup to go. He will lay hold of the 
reins at six inches from the branches of the 
bit, so as to be in a good position to combat 
the instinctive resistances of the animal. 
The one in the saddle will content himself 
with holding lightly the snaffle-reins, acting 
with his legs as I have already shown. The 
second person is only useful when we have 
to deal with a horse of an intractable dis- 
position, or to aid the inexperience of the 
one in the saddle; but, as much should be 
done without assistance as possible, in order 
that the practitioner may judge by himself 



116 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

of the progress of his horse, seeking all the 
while for means to increase the effects of 
his touch. 

Even while this work is in an elementary 
state, he will make the horse execute easily 
all the figures of the manage de deux pistes.^ 
After eight days of moderate exercise, he 
will have accomphshed, without effort, a 
performance that the old school did not 
dare to undertake until after two or three 
years' studying and working at the horse. 

When the rider has accustomed the croup 
of the horse to yield promptly to the pres- 
sure of the legs, he will be able to put it in 
motion, or ^il it motionless at will, and can, 

* ^^ La piste is an imaginary line upon whicli the horse 
is made to walk. When the hind legs follow the same 
line as the fore ones, the horse is said to go d'une piste^ 
or on one line. He goes de deux pistes, or on two lines, 
when his hind legs pass along a line parallel to that traced 
by the fore legs." — Baucher's Dictionnaire d' Equitation. 



ORDINARY PIROUETTE. 117 

consequently, execute ordinary pirouettes.* 
For this purpose he will take a snaffle-rein 
in each hand, one to direct the neck and 
shoulders towards the side to which we 
wish to wheel, the other to second the op- 
posite leg, if it is not sufficient to keep 
the croup still. At the beginning, this leg 
should be placed as far back as possible, 
and not be used until the haunches bear 
against it. By careful and progressive man- 
agement the results will soon be attained; 
at the start, the horse should be allowed to 

* " The pirouette is executed on the fore or hind legs, 
by making the horse turn round upon himself, in such a 
way, that the leg on the side he is going, acts as a pivot, 
and is the principal support around which the other 
three legs move." — Baucher's Dictionnaire d' Equitation. 

Pirouettes are either ordinary or reversed. In the 
ordinary pirouette, one of the hind legs is the pivot on 
which the horse moves; in the reversed, one of the fore 
legs. — Translator. 



118 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

rest after executing two or three steps well, 
which will give ^ve or six halts in the com- 
plete rotation of the shoulders around the 
croup. 

Here the stationary exercises cease. I will 
now explain how the suppling of the hind- 
parts will be completed, by commencing to 
combine the play of its springs with those 
of the fore-parts. 

Backing. — The retrograde movement, oth- 
erwise called backing, is an exercise, the 
importance of which has not been suffi- 
ciently appreciated, and which yet ought to 
have a very great influence upon his educa- 
tion. When practiced after the old errone- 
ous methods, it would have been without 
success, since the thread of exercises that 
ought to precede it were unknown. Back- 
ing properly diflers essentially from that in- 
correct backward movement which carries 
the horse to the rear with his croup con- 



BACKING. 119 

tracted and his neck stiff; tliat is backing 
away from and avoiding the effect of the 
reins. Backing correctly supples the horse, 
and adds grace and precision to his natural 
motions. The first of the conditions upon 
which it is to be obtained, is to keep the 
horse in hand, that is to say, supple, light 
in the mouth, steady on his legs, and per- 
fectly balanced in all his parts. Thus dis- 
posed, the animal will be able with ease to 
move and elevate equally his fore and hind 
legs. 

It is here that we will be enabled to appre- 
ciate the good effects and the indispensable 
necessity of suppling the neck and haunches. 
Backing, which at first is tolerably painful 
to the horse, will always lead him to com- 
bat the motions of our hand, by stiffening 
his neck, and those of our legs, by contract- 
ing his croup ; these are the instinctive re- 
sistances. If we cannot obviate the bad 



120 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

disposition of them^ how will we be able to 
obtain that shifting and reshifting of weight, 
which alone ought to make the execution 
of this movement perfect? If the impul- 
sion which, to back him, ought to come 
from the fore-parts, should pass over its 
proper limits, the movement would become 
painful, impossible in fact, and occasion on 
the part of the animal, sudden, violent 
movements which are always injurious to 
his organization. 

On the other hand, the displacements* of 
the croup, by destroying the harmony which 
should exist between the relative forces of 
fore and hind-parts, would also hinder the 
proper execution of the backing. The pre- 
vious exercise to which we have subjected 
the croup will aid us in keeping it in a 

* These displacements of the croup mean sideway dis- 
placements, or the horse's croup not being in a line with 
the shoulders. — Translator. 



BACKING. 121 

straight line with the shoulders, in order to 
preserve the necessary transferring of the 
forces and weight. 

To commence the movement, the rider 
ought first to assure himself that the 
haunches are on a line with the shoulders, 
and the horse light in hand; then he will 
slowly close his legs, in order that the action 
they will communicate to the hind-parts of 
the horse may make him lift one of his hind 
legs, and prevent the body from yielding 
before the neck. It is then that the imme- 
diate pressure of the bit, forcing the horse to 
regain his equilibrium behind, will produce 
the first part of the backing. As soon as 
the horse obeys, the rider will instantly give 
the hand to reward the animal, and not to 
force the play of his fore-parts. If his croup 
is displaced, the rider will bring it back by 
means of his leg, and if necessary, use for 
this purpose the snaffle-rein on that side. 
11 



122 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

After having defined what I call the pro- 
per backing [reculer), I ought to explain 
what I understand by backing so as to 
avoid the bit {Vacculement). This move- 
ment is too painful to the horse^ too un- 
graceful, and too much opposed to the right 
development of his mechanism, not to have 
struck any one who has occupied himself at 
all with horsemanship. We force a horse 
backwards in this way, whenever we crowd 
too much his forces and weight upon his 
hind-parts; by so doing we destroy his 
equilibrium, and render grace, measure, and 
correctness impossible. Lightness, always 
lightness! this is the basis, the touchstone 
of all beautiful execution. With this, all 
is easy, as much for the horse as the rider. 
That being the case, it is understood that 
the difficulty of horsemanship does not con- 
sist in the direction to give the horse, but 
in the position to make him assume — a posi- 



BACKING. 123 

tion which alone can smooth all obstacles. 
Indeed, if the horse executes, it is the 
rider who makes him do so ; upon him then 
rests the responsibility of every false move- 
ment. 

It will suffice to exercise the horse for 
eight days (for five minutes each lesson) 
in backing, to make him execute it with 
facility. The rider will content himself the 
first few times with one or two steps to the 
rear, followed by the combined effect of the 
legs and hand, increasing in proportion to 
the progress he makes, until he finds no 
more difficulty in a backward than in a for- 
ward movement. 

-What an immense step we will then 
have made in the education of our pupil! 
At the start, the defective formation of the 
animal, his natural contractions, the resist- 
ances we encountered everywhere, seemed 
as if they 'might defy our efforts, for ever. 



124 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

Without doubt they would have been vain, 
had we made use of a bad course of pro- 
ceeding ; but the wise system of progression 
that we have introduced into our work, the 
destruction of the instinctive forces of the 
horse, the suppling, the separate subjection 
of all the rebellious parts, have soon placed 
in our power the whole of the mechanism 
to such a degree as to enable us to govern it 
completely, and to restore that pliability, ease, 
and harmony of the parts, which their bad 
arrangement appeared as if it would always 
prevent. As I shall point out hereafter in 
classing the general division of the labor, it 
will be seen that eight or ten days will be 
sufficient to obtain these important results. 

Was I not right then in saying that if it 
is not in my power to change the defect- 
ive formation of a horse, I can yet pre- 
vent the evil effect of his physical defects, 
so as to render him as fit to do everything 



SUBJECTION OF INSTINCTIYE FOECES. 125 

with grace and natural ease, as the better- 
formed horse? In suppling the parts of 
the animal upon which the rider acts 
directly, in order to govern and guide him, 
in accustoming them to yield without diffi- 
culty or hesitation to the different impres- 
sions which are communicated to them, I 
have, by so doing, destroyed their stiffness, 
and restored the centre of gravity to its 
true place, namely, to the middle of the 
body. I have, besides, settled the greatest 
difficulty of horsemanship : that of subject- 
ing, before everything else, the parts upon 
which the rider acts directly, in order to 
prepare for him infallible means of acting 
upon the horse. 

It is only by destroying the instinctive 

forces, and by suppling the different parts 

of the horse, that we will obtain this. All 

the s|)rings of the animal's body are thus 

11* 



126 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

yielded up to the discretion of the rider. 
But this first advantage will not be enough 
to make him a complete horseman. The 
employment of these forces thus abandoned 
to him, demandj in order to execute the 
different paces, much study and skill. I 
will show in the subsequent chapters the 
rules to be observed. I will conclude this 
one by a rapid recapitulation of the pro- 
gression to be followed in the supplings. 

Stationary exercise, the rider on foot. 
Foreparts. — 1. Flexions of the jaw to the 
right and left, using the curb-bit. 

2. Direct flexions of the jaw, and depres- 
sion of the neck. 

3. Lateral flexions of the neck with the 
snafl9.e-reins and with the curb. 

Stationary exercise, the rider on Jiorse- 
hach. — 1. Lateral flexions of the neck with 
the snaffle-reins, and with the curb-reins. 

2. Direct flexions of the head, or placing 



STATIONAEY EXERCISE. 127 

it in a perpendicular position with the 
snaffle^ and with the curb-reins. 

Hind-parts. — 3. Lateral flexions^ and mov- 
ing the croup around the shoulders. 

4. Kotation of the shoulders around the 
haunches. 

5. Combining the play of the fore and 
hind legs of the horse^ or backing. 

I have placed the rotation of the shoul- 
ders around the haunches in the nomencla- 
ture of stationary exercise. But the ordi- 
nary pivoting, or pirouettes, being a pretty 
complicated movement, and one difficult for 
the horse, he should not be completely ex- 
ercised in it until he has acquired the 
measured time of the walk, and of the trot, 
and will easily execute the changes of 
direction. 



128 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FORCES OF THE 
HORSE BY THE RIDER. 

"When the supplings have subjected the 
instinctive forces of the horse/ and given 
them up completely into our power, the 
animal will be nothing more in our hand 
than a passive, expectant machine, ready to 
act upon the impulsion we choose to com- 
municate to him. It will be for us, then, as 
sovereign disposers of all his forces, to com- 
bine the employment of them in correct 
proportion to the movements we wish to 
execute. 

The young horse, at first stiff and awk- 
ward in the use of his members, will need a 
certain degree of management in developing 
them. In this, as in every other case, we 



THE WALK. 129 

will follow that rational progression which 
tells us to commence with the simple, be- 
fore passing to the complicated. By the 
preceding exercise, we have made our 
means of acting upon the horse sure. We 
must now attend to facilitating his means 
of execution, bj exercising all his forces 
together. If the animal responds to the 
aids of the rider by the jaw, the neck, and 
the haunches ; if he yields by the general 
disposition of his body to the impulses com- 
municated to him, it is by the play of his 
extremities, that he executes the movement. 
The mechanism of these parts ought then to 
be easy, prompt, and regular; their applica- 
tion, well directed in the different paces, 
will alone be able to give them these quali- 
ties, indispensable to a good education.* 
. The walk. — This gai^ is the mother of 



V 



''^-^^ * It must not be forgotten that the hand and legs 
have their vocabulary also; and a very concise one. 



130 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

all the other gaits ; by it we will obtain the 
cadence, the regularity, the extension of the 
others. But to obtain these brilliant re- 
sults, the rider must display as much know- 
ledge as tact. The preceding exercises 
have led the horse to bear the combined 
effect of hand and legs, which could not 
have been done previously to the destruc- 
tion of the instinctive resistances j we have 
now only to act on the inert resistances 
which appertain to the animal's weight; 
upon the forces which only move when an 
impulse is communicated to them. 

Before making the horse go forward, we 
should first assure ourselves of his light- 

This mute, laconic language consists of these few words. 
You are doing hadly ; this is wliat you sliould do ; yo\h 
do well now. It is sufficient for the rider to be able to 
translate, by his mechanism, the meaning of these three 
remarks, to possess all the equestrian erudition, and 
share his intelligence with his horse. 



HINTS ON STARTING. 131 

nesS; that is to say of his head being per- 
pendicular, his neck flexible, his hind-part 
straight and plumb. The legs will then be 
closed lightly, to give the body the impulse 
necessary to move it. But we should not, 
in accordance with the precepts of the old 
method, give the bridle hand at the same 
time ; for then the neck, being free from all 
restraint, would lose its lightness; would 
contract, and render the motion of the 
hand powerless. The rider will remember 
that his hand ought to be to the horse an 
insurmountable barrier, whenever he would 
leave the position of ramener. The ani- 
mal will never attempt it, without pain; 
and only within this limit will he find 
ease and comfort. By the application of 
my method, the rider will be led to guide 
his horse all the time with the reins half 
tight, except when he wishes to correct a 
false movement, or determine a new one. 



132 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

The walk, I have said, ought to precede 
the other paces, because the horse having 
three supports upon the ground, his action 
is less, and consequently easier to regulate 
than in the trot and gallop. The first exer- 
cises of the supplings will be followed by 
some turns in the riding-house at a walk, 
but only as a relaxation, the rider attending 
less to animating his horse, than to making 
him keep his head, while walking, in a per- 
pendicular position. Little by little he will 
complicate his work, so as to join to the 
lightness of the horse that precision of 
movement indispensable to the beauty of 
all his gaits. 

He will commence light oppositions of 
the hand and legs to make the forces of 
the fore and hind parts work together in 
harmony. This exercise, by accustoming 
the horse always to yield the use of his 
forces to the direction of the rider, will be 



HARMONY OF FORCES. 133 

also useful in forming his intelligence, as 
well as in developing his powers. What 
delights the expert horseman will experi- 
ence in the progressive application of his 
art ! His pupil, at first rebellious, will in- 
sensibly yield himself to his every wish; 
will adopt his character, and end by becom- 
ing the living personification of him. Take 
care, then, rider ! If your horse is capri- 
cious, violent, fantastic, we will have the 
right to say that you yourself do not shine 
by the amenity of your disposition, and the 
propriety of your proceedings. 

In order to keep the measure and quick- 
ness of the walk equal and regular, it is in- 
dispensable that the impulsive and govern- 
ing forces which come from the rider, 
should themselves be perfectly in harmony. 
We will suppose, for example, that the 
rider to move his horse forward, should 
make use of a force equal to twenty 
12 



134 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

pounds, fifteen for the impulse forward, and 
five to bring his head into position. If the 
legs increase their motion without the hands 
increasing theirs in the same proportion, it 
is evident that the surplus of commu- 
nicated force will be thrown into the 
neck, cause it to contract, and destroy 
all lightness. If, on the contrary, it is 
the hand which acts with too much vio- 
lence, it will be at the expense of the im- 
pulsive force necessary to move the horse 
forward ; on this account, his forward move- 
ment will be slackened and counteracted, at 
the same time that his position will lose its 
gracefulness and power. 

This short explanation will sufiice to 
show the harmony that should exist be- 
tween the legs and hands. It is under- 
stood that their motion should vary ac- 
cording as the formation of the horse 
renders it necessary to support him more or 



CHANGES OF DIRECTION. 135 

less before or behind; but the rule is the 
same, only the proportions are different. 

As long as the horse will not keep him- 
self supple and light in his walk, we will 
continue to exercise him in a straight line ; 
but as soon as he acquires more ease and 
steadiness, we will commence to make him 
execute changes of direction to the right 
and left, while walking. 

Changes of direction. — The use of the 
wrists, in the changes of direction, is so 
simple that it is unnecessary to speak of it 
here. I will only call attention to the fact, 
that the resistances of the horse ought 
always to be anticipated by disposing his 
forces in such a manner that they all 
concur in putting him in the way of mov- 
ing. The head will be inclined in the 
direction we wish to go by means of the 
snaffle-rein of that side, the curb will then 
complete the movement. General rule : the 



136 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

lateral resistances of the neckj are always 
to be opposed by the aid of the snaffle, 
being very careful not to commence to 
wheel until after destroying the obstacle 
that opposed it. If the use of the wrists 
remains very nearly the same as formerly, 
it is not so with the legs; their motion will 
be diametrically opposite to that given them 
in the old style of horsemanship. This 
innovation is so natural a one, that I cannot 
conceive why some one never applied it 
before me. 

It is by bearing the hand to the right, 
and making the right leg felt, people have 
told me, and I have myself at first repeated 
it, that the horse is made to turn to the 
right. With me, practice has always taken 
the precedence of reasoning ; and this is the 
way I first perceived the incorrectness of 
this principle. 

Whatever lightness my horse had in a 



CHANGES OF DIRECTION. 137 

straiglit line, I remarked that this lightness 
always lost some of its delicacy when mov- 
ing in small circles, although my outside 
leg came to the assistance of the inside one. 
As soon as the hind leg put itself in motion 
to follow the shoulders in the circle, I im- 
mediately felt a slight resistance. I then 
thought of changing the use of my aids, 
and of pressing the leg on the side opposite 
to the direction of wheeling. At the same 
time, in place of bearing the hand immedi- 
ately to the right, to determine the shoul- 
ders in that direction, I first, by the aid of 
this hand, made the opposition necessary to 
render the haunches motionless, and to dis- 
pose the forces in such a way as to main- 
tain the equilibrium during the execution 
of the movement. This proceeding was 
completely successful; and in explaining 
what ought to be the function of the differ- 
ent extremities, I recognize this as the 
12* 



138 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

only rational way of using them in wheel- 
ing. 

In fact, in wheeling to the right, for ex- 
ample, it is the right hind leg which serves 
as pivot and supports the whole weight of 
the mass, while the left hind leg and the 
fore legs describe a circle more or less ex- 
tended. In order that the movement 
should be correct and free, it is necessary 
that this pivot upon which the whole turns 
be not interfered with in its action; the 
simultaneous action of the right hand and 
the right leg must necessarily produce this 
effect. The equilibrium is thus destroyed, 
and the regularity of the wheeling rendered 
impossible. 

As soon as the horse executes easily the 
changes of direction at a walk, and keeps 
himself perfectly light, we can commence 
exercising at a trot. 

The trot — The rider will commence this 



i 



THE TROT. 139 

pace at a very moderate rate of speedy fol- 
lowing exactly the same principles as for 
the walk. He will keep his horse perfectly 
lights not forgetting that the faster the gait^ 
the more disposition there will be on the 
part of the animal, to fall back again into 
his natural contractions. The hand should 
then be used with redoubled nicety, in 
order to keep the head and neck always 
pliable, without effecting the impulse neces- 
sary to the movement. The legs will 
lightly second the hands, and the horse be- 
tween these two barriers, which are obsta- 
cles only to his improper movements, will 
soon develop all his best faculties, and with 
precision of movement, will acquire grace, 
extension, and the steadiness inherent to 
the lightness of the whole. 

Although many persons who would not 
take the trouble to examine thoroughly my 
method, have pretended that it is opposed 



140 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

to great speed in trotting, it is not tlie less 
proved that the well-balanced horse can 
trot faster than the one destitute of this 
advantage. I have given proofs of this 
whenever they have been demanded of me ; 
but it is in vain that I have tried to make 
people understand what constitutes the 
motions of the trot, and what are the con- 
ditions indispensable for regularity in exe- 
cuting it. So, I was obliged in a race of 
which I was judge, to make the bets void, 
and to prove that the pretended trotters 
were not trotting really, but were ambling. 

The condition indispensable to a good 
trotter, is perfect equilibrium of the body. 
Equilibrium which keeps up a regular 
movement of the diagonal fore and hind 
feet, gives them an equal elevation and ex- 
tension, with such lightness that the animal 
can easily execute all changes of direction, 
moderate his speed, stop, or increase his 



THE TROT. 141 

speed without effort. The fore-parts have 
not, then, the appearance of towing after 
them the hind parts, which keep as far off 
as possible; everything becomes easy and 
graceful for the horse, because his forces 
being in perfect harmony, permit the rider 
to dispose of them in such a way that they 
mutually and constantly assist each other. 

It would be impossible for me to count up 
the number of horses that have been sent 
me to break, and whose paces have been so 
spoilt that it was impossible for them to 
trot a single step. A few lessons have 
always been sufficient for me to get them 
back into regular paces, and these are the 
means I employed. 

The difficulty which the horse experi- 
ences in keeping himself square in his 
trot, almost always proceeds from the hind 
parts. Whether these be of a feeble 
construction, or be rendered useless by 



142 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the superior vigor of the fore-parts^ the 
motions of these parts^ which receive the 
shock and give the bound, in each case be- 
come powerless, and in consequence, render 
the movement irregular.* There is, then, 

* I am not of the opinion of those connoisseurs who 
imagine that the qualities of the horse, as well as his 
speed in trotting, depend principally on the height of his 
withers. I think, that for the horse to be stylish and 
regular in his movements, the croup should be on a level 
with the withers; such was the construction of the old 
English horses. A certain kind of horses, very much a la 
mode, called steppers, are constructed after an entirely 
different fashion; they strike out with their fore legs, and 
drag their hind-parts after them. Horses with a low 
croup, or withers very high in proportion to their croup, 
were preferred by horsemen of the old school, and are 
still in favor now-a-days among amateur horsemen. The 
German horsemen have an equally marked predilection 
for this sort of formation, although it is contrary to 
strength of the croup, to the equilibrium of the horse, 
and to the regular play of his feet and legs. This fault 



REMEDY FOR FAULTY CONSTRUCTION. 143 

weakness in one extremity, or excess of 
force in the other. The remedy in each 
case will be the same, viz : the depression 
of the neck, which by diminishing the 
power of the fore-parts, restores the equili- 
brium between the two parts. We have 
practiced this suppling on foot, it will be 
easy to obtain it on horseback. We here 
see the usefulness of this perpendicular 
flexion, which allows us to place on a level 

of construction (for it is one) has Ibeen scarcely noticed 
till now J nevertheless, it is a great one, and really re- 
tards the horse's education. In fact, we are obliged, in 
order to render his movements uniform, to lower his 
neck, so that the kind of lever it represents, may serve to 
lighten his hind-parts of the weight with which they are 
overburdened. I ought also to say, that this change of 
position, or of equilibrium, is only obtained by the aid of 
my principles. I explain the cause and effect, and I point 
out the remedies. Is this not the proper way for an 
author to proceed ? 



144 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the forces of the two opposite extremities of 
the horse, in order to make them harmoni- 
ous, and induce regularity in their working. 
The horse being thus placed, can bend and 
extend his fore and hind legs, before the 
weight of the body forces them to resume 
their support. 

The practice of this and some other prin- 
ciples that I explain in this work, will place 
in the rank of choice horses, animals whose 
inferiority caused them to be considered 
jades, and that the old method would never 
have raised from their degradation. It will 
suffice to accustom the horse to trot well, to 
exercise him at this gait only five minutes 
in each lesson. When he acquires the 
necessary ease and lightness, he can be 
made to execute ordinary pirouettes, as well 
as the exercise on two lines, at a walk and 
a trot. I have said that ^yq minutes of 
trotting were enough at first, because it is 



PROLONGED EXERCISE HURTFUL. 145 

less the continuance of an exercise than its 
being properly done that perfects the exe- 
cution of it. Besides, as this pace requires 
a considerable displacement of forces, and 
as the animal will have been already sub- 
jected to a rather painful exercise, it would 
be dangerous to prolong it beyond the time 
I mention. The horse will lend himself 
more willingly to your efforts when nicely 
managed, and of short duration 5 his intelli- 
gence, becoming familiar with this efficient 
progression, will hasten success. He will 
submit himself calmly and without repug- 
nance to work in which there will be 
nothing painful to him, and we will be able 
thus to push his education to the farthest 
limits, not only without injury to his phy- 
sical organization, but in restoring to their 
normal state organs that a forced exercise 
might have weakened. This regular de- 
velopment of all the organs of the horse 
13 



146 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

will not only give him grace^ but also 
strength and health, and will thus prolong 
his existence, while increasing a hundred- | 
fold the delights of the true horseman. 



CONCENTRATION OF FORCES. 147 



YI 



OF THE CONCENTRATION OF THE FORCES OF THE 
HORSE BY THE RIDER. 

The rider now understands that the only 
means of obtaining precision and regularity 
of movement in the walk and trot is to 
keep the horse perfectly light while he is 
exercised at these paces. As soon as we 
are sure of this lightness while going in 
a straight line, in changes of direction, 
and in circular movements, it will be easy 
to preserve it while exercising on two 
lines.* 

I would here treat immediately of the 
gallop ; but this pace, more complicated 
than the two others, demands an arrange- 

* Previously explained. 



148 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

ment on the part of the horse, and a power 
on the part of the rider, that the preceding 
exercises have not yet been able to give. 
The proper placing of the horse's head 
spreads his forces over the whole of his 
body ; it is necessary, in order to perform 
correctly the different exercises at a gallop, 
and to enable yourself properly to direct 
the forces in energetic movements, to bring 
them into a common focus — that is, to the 
centre of gravity of the animal. I am 
about to explain how this is to be done. 

The use of the s^urs, — Professors of equi- 
tation and authors upon this subject have 
said, that the spurs are to punish the horse 
when he does not respond to the legs, or 
when he refuses to approach an object that 
frightens him. With them, the spur is not 
an aid, but a means of chastisement. With 
me, it is on the contrary, a powerful auxili- 
ary, without which it would be impossible 



USE OF THE SPURS. 149 

to break any horse perfectly. How! you 
exclaim, you attack with the spur, horses 
that are sensitive, excitable, full of fire and 
action — horses whose powerful make leads 
them to become unmanageable, in spite of 
the hardest bits and the most vigorous 
arms ! Yes, and it is with the spur that I 
will moderate the fury of these too fiery 
animals, and stop them short in their most 
impetuous bounds. It is with the spur, 
aided of course by the hand, that I will 
make the most stubborn natures kind, and 
perfectly educate the most intractable ani- 
mal. 

Long before publishing my " Comjprehensive 
Dictionary of Equitation" I was aware of the 
excellent efiects of the spur ; but I abstained 
from developing my principles, being pre- 
vented by an expression of one of my 
friends, whom I had shown how to obtain 
results, which to him appeared miraculous. 
13* 



150 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

"It is extraordinary! It is wonderful!" 
he exclaimed; "but it is a razor in the 
hands of a monkey." It is true that the 
use of the spurs requires prudence, tact, 
and gradation ; but the effects of it are pre- 
cious. Now that I have proved the ef&cacy 
of my method ; now that I see my most 
violent adversaries become warm partisans 
of my principles, I no longer fear to develop 
a process that I consider one of the most 
beautiful results of my long researches in 
horsemanship. 

There is no more difference in sensibility 
of different horse's flanks than in their 
sensibility of mouth — that is to say, that 
the direct effect of the spur is nearly the 
same in them all. I have already shown 
that the organization of the bars of the 
mouth goes for nothing in the resistances to 
the hand. It is clear enough that if the nose 
being thrown up in the air gives the horse 



USE OF THE SPURS. 151 

a force of resistance equal to two hundred 
pounds^ this force will be reduced to one 
hundred pounds^ when we bring the horse's 
head half way towards a perpendicular 
position; to fifty pounds when brought still 
nearer that position^ and to nothing when 
perfectly placed. The pretended hardness 
of mouth proceeds in this case from the bad 
position of the head caused by the stiffness 
of the neck and the faulty construction of 
the loins and haunches of the horse. If 
we carefully examine the causes that pro- 
duce what is called sensibility of the flanks, 
we will discover that they have very much 
the same kind of source. 

The innumerable conjectures to which 
people have devoted themselves, in attribut- 
ing to the horse's flanks a local sensibility 
that had no existence, have necessarily in- 
jured the progress of his education, because 
it was based upon false data. The greater 



152 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

or less sensibility of the animal proceeds 
from his action, from his faulty formation, 
and bad position resulting therefrom. To a 
horse of natural action, but with long, weak 
loins, and bad action behind, every motion 
backwards is painful, and the very disposi- 
tion that leads him to rush ahead, serves 
him to avoid the pain of the spur. He re- 
turns to this movement whenever he feels 
the rider s legs touch him ; and far from be- 
ing a spirited horse, he is only scared and 
crazy. The more he fears the spur, the 
more he plunges out of hand, and baffles 
the means intended to make him obedient. 
There is everything to fear from such a 
horse; he will scare at objects from the 
very ease he possesses of avoiding them. 
Now since his fright proceeds, so to say, 
from the bad position we allow him to take, 
this inconvenience will disappear from the 
moment we remedy the first cause of it. 



USE OF THE SPURS. 153 

We must confine the forces in order to pre- 
vent every displacement. We must separate 
the physical from the moral horse, and force 
these impressions to concentrate in the brain. 
He will then be a furious madman whose 
limbs we have bound to prevent him from 
carrying his frenzied thoughts into execu- 
tion. 

The best proof we have that the prompt- 
ness of a horse in responding to the effect 
of the legs and spurs, is not caused by a 
sensibility of the flanks, but rather by great 
action joined to bad formation, is that the 
same action is not so manifest in a well- 
formed horse, and that the latter bears the 
spur much better than one whose equili- 
brium and organization are inferior. 

But the spur is not useful only in mode- 
rating the too great energy of horses of much 
action; its effect being equally good in com- 
bating the dispositions which lead the ani- 



154 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

mal to throw its centre of gravity too much 
forward^ or back. I would also use it to 
stir up those that are wanting in ardor and 
vivacity. In horses of action^ the forces of 
the hind-parts surpass those of the fore- 
parts. It is the opposite in dull horses. 
We can thus account for the quickness of 
the former ; the slowness and sluggishness 
of the latter. 

By the exercise of suppling, we have 
completely annulled the instinctive forces 
of the horse. We must "now reunite these 
forces in their true centre of gravity, 
that is, the middle of the animal's body; 
it is by the properly combined opposition 
of the legs and hands that we will suc- 
ceed in this. The advantages we possess 
already over the horse, will enable us to 
combat from their very birth, all the resist- 
ances which tend to make him leave the 
proper position, the only one in which we 



TACT AND GRADATION, 155 

can successfully practice these oppositions. 
It is also of the first importance to put into 
our proceedings tact and gradation^ so that, 
for example, the legs never give an impulse 
that the hand is not able to take hold of and 
govern at the same moment. I will make 
this principle more clear by a short expla- 
nation. 

We will suppose a horse at a walk, em- 
ploying a force of forty pounds, necessary 
to keep the pace regular till the moment of 
the opposition of the hand and legs which 
follow. By and by comes a slow and gra- 
dual pressure of the legs, which adds ten 
pounds to the impulse of the pace. As the 
horse is supposed to be perfectly in hand, 
the hand will immediately feel this passage 
of forces, and must then make itself master 
of them to transfer them to the centre. 
Meanwhile the legs will continue their 
pressure, to the end that these forces thus 



156 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

driven back may not return to the focus 
they had left; which would be but a useless 
ebbing and flowing of forces. This succes- 
sion of oppositions well combined will 
bring together a great quantity of forces in 
the centre of the horse's body, and the 
more these are increased, the more the ani- 
mal will lose his instinctive energy. When 
the pressure of the legs becomes insufficient 
to entirely collect the forces, more energetic 
means must be employed, viz. : the touches 
of the spur. 

The spurring ought to be done, not 
violently, and with much movement of the 
legs, but with delicacy and management. 
The rider ought to close his legs so gradu- 
ally that before coming in actual contact 
with the horse's flanks, the spur will not be 
more than a hair's breadth off, if possible. 
The hand should ever be the echo to the 



USE OF THE SPURS. 157 

light touches with which we commence; it 
should then be firmly held, so as to present 
an opposition equal to the force communi- 
cated by the spur. If by the time being 
badly chosen, the hand does not exactly in- 
tercept the impulse given, and the general 
commotion resulting therefrom, we should, 
before recommencing, gather the horse 
together, and re-establish calm in his mo- 
tions. The force of the spurring will be 
progressively increased until the horse bears 
it, when as vigorously applied as possible, 
without presenting the least resistance to 
the hand, without increasing the speed of 
his gait, or without displacing himself as 
long as we operate with a firm foot. 

A horse brought thus to bear spurring, is 
three-fourths broken, since we have the free 
disposition of all his forces. Besides, his 
centre of gravity being where his forces are 
all united, we have brought it to its proper 
14 



158 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

place, viz: the middle of the body. All 
the oscillations of the animal will then be 
subordinate to us, and we will be able to 
transfer the weight with ease, when neces- 
sary. 

It is easy now to understand where the 
resistances have their origin; whether the 
horse kicks up behind, rears, or runs away, 
the cause is always the centre of gravity 
being in the wrong place. This very cause 
belongs to a defective formation that we 
cannot change, it is true, but the effects of 
which we can always modify. If the horse 
kicks up, the centre of gravity is in the 
shoulders; in his croup when the animal 
rears, and too far forward when he runs 
away. The principal thought of the rider, 
then, ought to be to keep the centre of 
gravity in the middle of the horse's body, 
since he will thereby prevent him defending 
himself, and bring back the forces of the 



REMOVAL OF CENTRE OF GRAVITY. 159 

badly formed horse to their true place, 
which they occupy in the finest organiza- 
tions. It is this that makes me assert that 
a well-formed horse will not make resist- 
ance nor move irregularly, for to do so re- 
quires supernatural efforts on his part to 
destroy the harmony of his moving parts, 
and so greatly displace his centre of 
gravity. So, when I speak of the necessity 
of giving the horse a new equilibrium, in 
order to prevent his defending himself, and 
also to remedy the ungracefulness of his 
form, I allude to the combination of forces 
of which I have been treating, or, rather, of 
the removal of the centre of gravity from 
one place to another. This result obtained, 
the education of the horse is complete. 
When the horseman succeeds in obtaining 
it, his talent becomes a truth, since it trans- 
forms ugliness into grace, and gives elegance 



160 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

and lightness to movements which were be- 
fore heavy and confused.* 

* I have often proved that horses that were considered 
dull, or unable to move their shoulders freely, have not 
the defect that is supposed; in other words, that it is very 
rare that they are paralyzed in their shoulders so as to 
injure the regularity and speed of their paces, principally 
as regards trotting. The shoulders of the horse, if I 
may use the comparison, resemble the wings of a wind- 
mill; the impulse given by the hocks replaces the 
motive force. There undoubtedly exist some local com- 
plaints that affect the shoulders; but this is very rare; 
the defect, if there is one, has its origin in the hind-parts. 
For my part I have been able to make all such horses 
very free in their movements, and that after fifteen days 
of exercise, half an hour a day. The means, like all I 
employ, are very simple. They consist in suppling the 
neck to get the horse in hand, and then, by the aid of the 
legs, and afterwards slight use of the spurs, in bringing his 
haunches nearer the centre. Then the hocks will obtain 
a leverage, by which they can propel the mass forward, 
and give the shoulders a freedom that people would not 
expect. 



EMPLOYMENT OF FORCE. 161 

The rider's employment of force, when 
properly applied, has a moral effect also on 
the horse, that accelerates the results. If the 
impulse given by the legs finds in the hand 
the energy and apTO][>os necessary to regu- 
late its effects, the pain the animal sustains 
will be always proportioned to his resist- 
ances, and his instinct will soon make him 
understand how he can diminish, and even 
avoid altogether this constraint by promptly 
yielding to what we demand of him. He 
will hasten then to submit, and will even 
anticipate our desires. But, I repeat, it is 
only by means of tact and delicate manage- 
ment that we will gain this important 
point. If the legs give too vigorous an im- 
pulse, the horse will quickly overcome the 
motion of the hands, and resume with his 
natural position all the advantages it gives 
him to foil the efforts of the rider. If, on 
the contrary, the hand presents too great a 
14* 



162 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

resistance; the horse will soon overcome the 
legs, and find a means of defending himself 
by backing. Yet these difficulties must not 
be allowed to frighten us; they were only 
serious ones when no rational principle gave 
the means of surmounting them. The 
application of my method will enable ordi- 
nary horsemen to obtain results that other- 
wise could be obtained only by the most 
favored equestrian organizations. 

When the animal becomes accustomed by 
means of the spur to such oppositions, it 
will become easy enough to combat with 
the spur all the resistances that may after- 
wards manifest themselves. Since the re- 
sistances are always caused by moving the 
croup sideways, or getting it too far back, 
the spur, by immediately bringing the hind- 
legs towards the centre of the body, pre- 
vents the support of the hocks, which were 
able to oppose the proper harmony of 



USE OF THE SPURS. 163 

forceS; and prevent the right distribution of 
the weight. 

This is the means I always employ to 
make the horse pass from a swift gallop to a 
halt; without straining his hocks, or injur- 
ing any of the joints of his hind parts. In 
fact, since it is the hocks which propel 
the mass forward, it suffices to destroy 
their motion to stop the bound. The 
spur, by instantly bringing the hind-legs 
under the horse's belly, destroys their power 
from the moment the hand comes in the 
nick of time to ^x them in that position. 
Then the haunches bend, the croup is 
lowered; the weight and forces arrange 
themselves in the order most favorable to 
the free and combined play of each part, and 
the violence of the shock, infinitely decom- 
posed, is scarce perceptible to either horse 
or rider. 

If, on the contrary, we stop the horse by 



164 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

making the hand move firsts the hocks re- 
main far in the rear of the plumb-hne; the 
shock is violent, painful for the animal, and 
especially injurious to his physical organiza- 
tion. Horses that are thus stopped, set 
themselves against the bit, extending their 
neck, and require an arm of iron and a 
most violent opposing force. Such is the 
custom of the Arabs, for example, in halt- 
ing suddenly their horses, by making use of 
murderous bits that break the bars of their 
horses' mouths. Thus, notwithstanding the 
wonderful powers with which nature has 
gifted them, are these excellent animals in- 
jured. The use of the spur must not be 
commenced till by gathering him we get 
the horse well in hand; then the first touch 
of the spur should be made felt. We will 
continue to make use of it, at long inter- 
vals, until the horse, after his bound for- 
ward, presents no resistance to the hand, 



USE OF THE SPUES. 165 

and avoids the pressure of the bit^ by bring- 
ing in his chin towards his chesty of his own 
accord. This submission once obtained, we 
can undertake the use of the spurs with 
oppositions, but we must be careful to dis- 
continue them when the horse is in hand. 
This means has the double advantage of 
acting morally and physically. The first 
attacks will be made with a single spur, and 
by bearing on the opposite rein; these 
transverse oppositions will have a better 
effect and give more prompt results. When 
the horse begins to contain himself, the two 
spurs being used separately, we can make 
them felt together and with an equal grada- 
tion."^ 

* I would never have thought that this means^ which 
serves as a corrective to the processes used hy all horse- 
men, would have aroused the sensibility of some ama- 
teurs. These latter have preferred to be affected by ex- 
aggerated or erroneous reports, rather than satisfy them- 



166 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

To the work, then, cavaliers ! If you will 
follow my principles, I can promise you that 
your purse will be less often emptied into 
the hands of horse-dealers, and that you 
will render the meanest of your hacks 
agreeable. You will charm our breeders of 
horses, who will attribute to their efforts of 
regeneration that elegance and grace that 
your art alone could have given to your 
chargers. 

Lowering the hand. — The lowering the 
hand consists in confirming the horse in all 

selves by observation, that this pretended cruelty is in 
fact the most innocent thing in the world. Must we not 
teach the horse to respond to the spur as well as to the 
legs and the hand? Is it not by this spurring, judiciously 
applied, that we bring in at will the hind-legs more or less 
near the centre of gravity ? Is not this the only way of 
increasing or diminishing the leverage of the hocks, 
whether for extending or raising them in motion, or for 
the purpose of halting? 



LOWERING THE HAND. 167 

his lightness — that is^ in making him pre- 
serve his equihbrium without the aid of the 
reins. The suppleness given to all parts of 
the horse^ the just oppositions of hands and 
legs^ lead him to keep himself in the best 
possible position. To find out exactly 
whether we are obtaining this result, we 
must have recourse to frequent lowering of 
the hand. It is done in this way. After 
having slipped the right hand to the buckle, 
and having assured yourself that the reins 
are even, you will let go of them with the 
left hand, and lower the right slowly to the 
pommel of the saddle. To do this regu- 
larly, the horse must neither increase nor 
diminish the speed of his gait, and his head 
and neck continue to preserve their proper 
position. The first few times that the 
horse is thus given up to himself, he will 
perhaps only take a few steps while keeping 
in position, and at the same rate of speed y 



168 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the rider ought then to make his legs felt 
first^ and the hand afterwards, to bring him 
into his previous position. The frequent 
repetition of this lowering of the hand, 
after a complete placing of the horse's head 
in a perpendicular position, will give him a 
most exquisite mouth, and the rider a still 
greater delicacy of touch. The means of 
guiding emploj^ed by the latter will immedi- 
ately be answered by the horse, if his 
forces have been previously disposed in a 
perfectly harmonious state. 

The lowerings of the hand ought to be 
practiced first at a walk, then at a trot, 
afterwards at a gallop. This semblance of 
liberty gives such confidence to the horse 
that he gives up without knowing it 5^ he 
becomes our submissive slave, while suppos- 
ing that he is preserving an entire inde- 
pendence. 

Of gathering the horse, or rassemhler, — The 



GATIIERING THE HORSE. 169 

preceding exercise will render easy to tlie 
rider that important part of horsemanship, 
called rassemhler. This has been a great deal 
talked about by people, as they have talked 
about Providence, and all the mysteries that 
are impenetrable to human perception. If 
it were allowable for us to compare small 
things to great, we might say that the more 
or less absurd theories that have been put 
forward upon the subject of divine power 
have not, fortunately, hindered in any way 
the unchangeable march of nature 5 but with 
regard to the progress of horsemanship, the 
case is not the same as to what has been 
said and written on the subject of the r as- 
sembler. The false principles propagated 
on this subject have made the horse the 
plaything and the victim of the rider's 
ignorance. 

I proclaim it, the gathering a horse has 
never been understood or defined before me, 
15 



170 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

for it cannot be perfectly executed without 
the regular application of the principles 
that I have developed for the first time. 
You will be convinced of this truth when 
you know that the rassembler demands : — 

1. The suppling, partial and general/ of 
the neck and haunches. 

2. The perfect position that results from 
this suppling. 

3. The entire absorption of the forces of 
the horse by the rider. 

NoW; as the means of obtaining these 
different results have never been pointed 
out in any treatise on horsemanship, am I 
not justified in saying that the true rassem- 
bler has never been practiced until now? 
It is, nevertheless, one of the indispensable 
conditions of the horse's education; conse- 
quently, I think I am right in saying that 
before my method, horses of defective form- 
ation have never been properly broken. 



GATHERING THE HORSE. 171 

How is the rassemhler defined in the 
schools of horsemanship ? You gather your 
horse hy raising the hand and closing the legs, 
I ask, what good can this movement of the 
rider do upon an animal badly formed, con- 
tracted, and that remains under the influ- 
ence of all the evil propensities of its na- 
ture? This mechanical support of the 
hands and legs, far from preparing the 
horse for obedience, will only make him re- 
double his means of resistance, since, while 
giving him notice that we are about to de- 
mand a movement on his part, we remain 
unable to dispose his forces in such a way 
as to force him to it. 

The real rassemhler consists in collecting 
the forces of the horse in his centre in order 
to ease his extremities, and give them up 
completely to the disposition of the rider. 
The animal thus finds himself transformed 
into a kind of balance, of which the rider 



172 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

is the centre-piece. The least touch upon 
one or other of the extremities which repre- 
sent the scales will immediately send them 
in the direction we wish. The rider will 
know that his horse is completely gathered 
when he feels him ready^ as it were^ to rise 
from all four of his legs. The proper posi- 
tion first, and then the use of the spurs, will 
make this beautiful execution of the gather- 
ing easy to both horse and rider; and what 
splendor, grace, and majesty it gives the 
animal! If we have been obliged at first 
to use the spurs in pushing this concentra- 
tion of forces to its farthest limits, the legs 
will afterwards be sufficient to obtain the 
gathering necessary for the precision and 
elevation required in all complicated move- 
ments. 

Need I recommend discretion in your 
demands ? I think not. If the rider, hav- 
ing reached this stage of his horse's educa- 



GATHERING THE HORSE. 173 

tion, cannot comprehend and seize that 
fineness of touch, that delicacy of process 
indispensable to the right application of my 
principles, it will prove him devoid of every 
feeling of a horseman; nothing I can say 
can remedy this imperfection of his nature. 



15^^ 



174 METHOD or HOKSEMANSHIP. 



YII. 

OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FORCES OF THE 
HORSE BY THE RIDER. 

( Continuation. ) 

Of the gallop.— \ liave said that, until 
nowj the greater part of the resources of 
horsemanship have not been understood, 
and had I need of another proof to support 
my opinion, I would draw it from the error, 
the suppositions, the innumerable contradic- 
tions that have been heaped together in 
order to explain so simple a movement as 
the gallop. What contrary opinions upon 
the means to employ to make the horse go 
off with his right foot ? It is the support 
of the rider's right leg which determines 
the movement, one pretends; it is that of 
the left leg, says another; it is the equal 



THE GALLOP. 175 

touch of the two legs, affirms a third ; nO; 
some others remark very seriously, you 
must let the horse act naturally. 

How can the truth be made out in the 
midst of this conflict of such contrary prin- 
ciples? Besides, they come from such re- 
spectable sources -, the most of their authors 
were possessed of titles and dignities which 
are generally only granted to merit. Have 
they all been deceived for a hundred and 
fifty years ? This is not possible ; for many 
of them joined to long practice a perfect 
knowledge of physics, anatomy, mathema- 
tics, &c. &c. To doubt such authorities 
would be as presumptuous as imprudent; 
it would have been considered a crime of 
high treason against horsemanship. So the 
riders kept their ignorance, and the horses 
their bad equilibrium ; and if any one suc- 
ceeded, after two or three years of routine 
labor, in making certain horses of a privi- 



176 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

leged organization start with the desired 
foot, and in making them change feet 
finally, at a fixed point, the difficulty then 
was to prevent them from always repeating 
this movement at the same place. 

Thus it is that the most palpable errors 
gain credit, and often are perpetuated, until 
there comes a practical mind, gifted with 
some amount of common sense, who contra- 
dicts by practice all the learned theories of 
its predecessors. They try hard at first to 
deny the knowledge of the innovator ; but 
the masses who instinctively know the true, 
and judge from what they see, soon range 
themselves on his side, turn their backs 
upon his detractors, and leave them to their 
solitude and vain pretensions. 

To the mass of horsemen I address my- 
self, when I say, either the horse is under 
the influence of your forces, and entirely 
submissive to your power, or you are 



THE GALLOP. 177 

struggling with him. If he gallops off with 
jOLi^ without your being able to modify or 
direct with certainty his course^ it proves 
that^ although subject to a certain extent to 
your power in thus consenting to carry you 
aboutj he, neverthelesSj uses his instinctive 
forces. In this case, there is a perpetual 
fight going on between you and him, the 
chances of which depend on the tempera- 
ment and caprice of the animal, upon the 
good or bad state of his digestion. Changes 
of foot, in such a state, can only be obtained 
by inclining the horse very much to one 
side, which makes the movement both diffi- 
cult and ungraceful. 

If, on the contrary, the animal is made 
submissive to a degree that he cannot con- 
tract any one of his parts without the inter- 
vention and aid of the rider, the latter can 
direct at his pleasure the whole of his mov- 



178 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

ing parts, and, consequently, can easily and 
promptly execute changes of feet. 

We know tlie contraction of any one 
part of the horse reacts on the neck, and 
that the stiffness of this part prevents the 
proper execution of every movement. If, 
then, at the moment of setting off on a 
gallop, the horse stiffens one of his extremi- 
ties, and consequently his neck, of what 
use in determining him in starting with the 
right foot can be the support of one or the 
other leg of the rider, or even of that of 
both at once ? These means will evidently 
be ineffectual until we go back to the source 
of the resistance, for the purpose of combat- 
ing and destroying it. Here, as in every 
other case, we see that suppleness and light- 
ness alone can make the execution of the 
work easy. 

If, when we wish to make the horse start 
with the right foot, a slight contraction of 



THE GALLOP. 179 

one part of the animal disposes him to start 
with the left foot^ and we persist in induc- 
ing the gait^ we must employ two forces on 
the same side, viz., the left leg and the left 
hand 3 the first to determine the movement, 
the second to combat the contrary disposi- 
tion of the horse. 

But when the horse, perfectly supple and 
gathered, only brings his parts into play 
after the impression given them by the 
rider, the latter, in order to start with the 
right foot, ought to combine an opposition of 
forces proper for keeping the horse in equi- 
librium, while placing him in the position 
required for the movement. He will then 
bear the hand to the left, and press his 
right leg. Here we see that the means 
mentioned above, necessary when the horse 
is not properly placed, would be wrong 
when the animal is properly placed, since 



180 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

it would destroy the harmony then existing 
between his forces. 

This short explanation will, I hope^ 
suffice to make it understood that things 
should be studied thoroughly before laying 
down any principles of action. Let us 
have no more systems then upon the exclu- 
sive use of such or such leg to determine 
the ga^llop; but a settled conviction that the 
first condition of this or any other perform- 
ance is to keep the horse supple and light — 
that is rassemhie; then^ after this, to make 
use of one or the other motive power, 
according as the animal, at the start, pre- 
serves a proper position, or seeks to leave 
it. It must also be understood that, while 
it is the force that gives the position to the 
horse, it is position alone upon which the 
regularity of movement depends. 

Passing frequently from the gallop with 
the right foot to that with the left, in a 



THE GALLOP. 181 

straight line, and with halts^ will soon 
bring the horse to make these changes of 
feet by the touch without halting. Violent 
effects of force should be avoided, which 
would bewilder the horse and destroy his 
lightness. We must remember that this 
lightness which should precede all changes 
of pace and direction, and make every 
movement easy, graceful and inevitable, is 
the important condition we should seek be- 
fore everything else. 

It is because they have not understood 
this principle, and have not felt that the 
first condition to dispose a horse for the 
gallop is to destroy all the instinctive forces 
of the animal (forces that oppose the posi- 
tion the movement demands), that horse- 
men have laid down so many erroneous 
principles, and have all remained unable to 
show us the proper means to be employed. 
16 



182 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

Of leaping the ditch and the har. — 
Although the combinations of equestrian 
science alone cannot give to every horse the 
energy and vigor necessary to clear a ditch 
or a bar, there are, nevertheless, principles by 
the aid of which we will succeed in partly 
supplying the deficiencies in the natural for- 
mation of the animal. By giving a good 
direction to the forces we will facilitate the 
rise and freedom of the bound. I do not 
pretend by this, to say, that a horse of ordi- 
nary capabilities, will attain the same 
heio;ht and eles^ance in this movement as 
one that is well constituted, but he will, at 
least, be able to display in it all the re- 
sources of his organization to more purpose. 

The great thing is to bring the horse to 
attempt this performance with good will. 
If all the processes prescribed by me for 
mastering the instinctive forces of the ani- 
mal, and putting him under the influence of 



OF LEAPING. 183 

ours have been punctually followed, the 
utility of this progression will be recognized 
by the facility we have of making the horse 
clear all the objects that are encountered in 
his way. For the rest, recourse must never 
be had, in case of a contest, to violent means, 
such as a whip in the hands of a second 
person; nor should we seek to excite the 
animal by cries ; this could only produce a 
moral effect calculated to frighten him. It 
is by physical means that we should before 
all bring him to obedience, since they alone 
wdll enable him to understand and execute. 
We should then carry on the contest calmly, 
and seek to surmount the forces that lead 
him to refuse, by acting directly on them. 
To make the horse leap, we will wait till he 
responds freely to the legs and spur, in order 
to have always a sure means of government. 
The bar will remain on the ground until 
the horse goes over it without hesitation; 



184 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. - 

it will then be raised gome inches, progres- 
sively increasing the height until the ani- 
mal will be just able to clear it without too 
violent an effort. To exceed this proper 
limit, would be to risk causing a disgust on 
the part of the horse that should be most 
carefully avoided. The bar having been 
thus gradually raised, ought to be made 
fast, in order that the horse, disposed to be 
indolent, should not make sport of an ob- 
stacle which would be no longer serious, 
when the touch of his feet sufficed to over- 
turn it. The bar ought not to be wrapped 
in any covering that would lessen its hard- 
ness ; we should be severe when we demand 
possibilities, and avoid the abuses that 
always result from an ill-devised com- 
plaisance. 

Before preparing to take the leap, the 
rider should hold himself sufficiently firm 
to prevent his body preceding the motion of 



OF LEAPING. 185 

the horse. His loins should be supple, his 
buttocks well fixed to the saddle, so that he 
may experience no shock nor violent reaction. 
His thighs and legs exactly enveloping the 
body and sides of the horse, will give him 
a power always opportune and infallible. 
The hand in its natural position will feel 
the horse's mouth in order to judge of the 
effects of impulsion. It is in this position 
that the rider should conduct the horse to- 
wards the obstacle; if he comes up to it 
with the same freedom of pace, a light 
opposition of the legs and hand will facili- 
tate the elevation of the fore-hand, and the 
bound of the posterior extremity. As soon 
as the horse is raised, the hand ceases its 
effect, to be again sustained when the fore- 
legs touch the ground, and to prevent them 
giving way under the weight of the body. 

We should content ourselves with exe- 
cuting a few leaps in accordance with the 
16* 



186 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

horse's powers, and above all avoid pushing 
bravado to the point of wishing to force the 
animal to clear obstacles that are beyond his 
powers. I have known very good leapers 
that people have succeeded in thus disgust- 
ing for ever, so that no efforts could induce 
them to clear things only half the height of 
those that at first they leaped with ease. 

Of the ]piaffer.^ — Until now, horsemen 
have maintained that the nature of each 
horse permits of only a limited number of 
movements, and that if there are some that 
can be brought to execute a piaffer high 
and elegant, or low and precipitate, there 
are a great number of them to whom this 
exercise is for ever interdicted. Their con- 
struction, they say, is opposed to it; it is 
then nature that has so willed it; ought we 

* " The piaffer is the horse's raising his legs diagonally 
as in the trot, but without advancing or receding." — Bau- 
cher's ^'■Dictionaire d^ Equitation P 



or THE PIAFFER. 187 

not to bow before this supreme arbiter and 
respect its decrees? 

This opinion is undoubtedly convenient 
for justifying its own ignorance, but it is 
none the less false. We can hring all 
horses to piaffer, and I will prove that in this 
particularly, without reforming the work of 
nature, without deranging the formation of 
the bones, or that of the muscles of the 
animal, we can remedy the consequences of 
its physical imperfections, and change the 
vicious disposition occasioned by faulty con- 
struction. There is no doubt that the horse 
whose forces and weight are collected in 
one of his extremities will be unfit to exe- 
cute the elegant cadence of the piaffer. 
But a graduated exercise, the completion of 
which is the rassewibler^ soon allows us to 
remedy such an inconvenience. We can 
now reunite all these forces in their true 
centre of gravity, and the horse that bears 



188 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the rassemhler perfectly has all the neces- 
sary qualifications for the piaffer. 

For the piaffer to be regular and graceful, 
it is necessary that the horse's legs, moved 
diagonally, rise together and fall in the 
same way upon the ground at as long inter- 
vals as possible. The animal ought not to 
bear more upon the hand than upon the 
legs of the rider, that his equilibrium may 
present the perfection of that balance of 
which I have spoken in another place. 
When the centre of the forces is thus dis- 
posed in the middle of the body, and when 
the rassemhler is perfect, it is sufficient, in 
order to induce a commencement of ;piaffer, 
to communicate to the horse with the legs a 
vibration at first slight, but often repeated. 
By vibration I mean an invigoration of 
forces, of which the rider ought always to 
be the agent. 

After this first result, the horse will be 



OF THE PIAFFER. 189 

put at a walk, and the rider's legs gradually 
brought close, will give the animal a slight 
increase of action. Then, but only then, 
the hand will sustain itself in time with the 
legs, and at the same intervals, in order that 
these two motive powers, acting conjointly, 
may keep up a succession of imperceptible 
movements, and produce a slight contrac- 
tion which will spread itself over the whole 
body of the horse. This reiterated activity 
will give the extremities a first mobility 
which at the beginning will be far from regu- 
lar, since the increase of action that this new 
exercise makes necessary will for the moment 
break the harmonious uniformity of the 
forces. But this general action is necessary 
in order to obtain even an irregular mobility, 
for without it the movement would be dis- 
orderly, and there would be a want of har- 
mony among the different springs. We 
will content ourselves, for the first few days, 



190 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

with a commencement of mobility of tlie 
extremities, being careful to stop each time 
that the horse raises or puts down his feet 
without advancing them too much^ in order 
to caress him, and speak to him, and thus 
calm the invigoration that a demand, the 
object of which he does not understand, 
must cause in him. Nevertheless these 
caresses should be employed with discern- 
ment, and when the horse has done well, for 
if badly applied they would be rather inju- 
rious than useful. The fit time for ceasing 
with the hands and legs is more important 
still ; it demands all the rider's attention. 

The mobility of the legs once obtained, 
we can commence to regulate it, and fix the 
intervals of the cadence. Here again, I seek 
in vain to indicate with the pen the degree 
of delicacy necessary in the rider's proceed- 
ings, since his motions ought to be answered 
by the horse with an exactness and a projpos 



OF THE PIAFFER. 191 

that is unequalled. It is by the alternated 
support of the two legs that he will succeed 
in prolonging the lateral balancings of the 
horse's body, in such way as to keep him 
longer on one side or the other. He will seize 
the moment when the horse prepares to rest 
his fore-leg on the ground, to make the pres- 
sure of his own leg felt on the same side, 
and add to the inclination of the animal in 
the same direction. If this time is well 
seized, the horse will balance himself slowly, 
and the cadence will acquire that elevation 
so fit to bring out all its elegance and all its 
majesty. These times of the legs are diffi- 
cult, and require great practice; but their 
results are too splendid for the rider not to 
strive to seize the light variations of them. 

The precipitate movement of the rider's 
legs accelerates also the piaffer. It is he, 
then, who regulates af'will the greater or 
less degree of quickness of the cadence. 



192 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

The performance of tlie piaffer is not ele- 
gant and perfect until the horse performs it 
without repugnance, which will always be 
the case when the forces are kept together, 
and the position is suitable to the demands 
of the movement. It is urgent, then, to be 
well acquainted with the amount of force 
necessary for the performance of the piaffer, 
so as not to overdo it. We should above all 
be careful to keep the horse rassemhU, which, 
of itself, will induce the movement without 
effort. 



DIYISION OF THE WOEK. 193 



VIII. 

DIVISION OF THE WORK. 

I HATE developed all the means to be em- 
ployed in completing the horse's education; 
it remains for me to say how the horseman 
ought to divide his work^ in order to con- 
nect the different exercises and pass by de- 
grees from the simple to the complicated. 

Two months of work, consisting of two les- 
sons a day of a half hour each — that is to 
say, one hundred and twenty lessons, will be 
amply sufficient to bring the greenest horse 
to perform regularly all the preceding exer- 
cises. I hold to two short lessons a-day, one 
in the morning, the other in the afternoon ; 
they are necessary to obtain good results. 

We disgust a young horse by keeping 
him too long at exercises that fatigue him, 
17 



194 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

the more so as his intelligence is less pre- 
pared to understand what we wish to de- 
mand of him. On the other hand, an 
interval of twenty-four hours is too long, in 
my opinion, for the animal to remember the 
next day what he had comprehended the 
day before. 

The general w^ork will be divided into 
five series or lessons, distributed in the fol- 
lowing order : — 

First lesson. Eight days of ivorh. — The 
first twenty minutes of this lesson will be 
devoted to the stationary exercise for the 
flexions of the jaw and neck; the rider first 
on foot, and then on horseback, will follow 
the progression I have previously indicated. 
During the last ten minutes, he will make 
the horse go forward at a walk without try- 
ing to animate him, but applying himself all 
the while to keeping his head in the posi- 
tion of ramener. He will content himself 



DIVISION OF THE WORK. 195 

with executing a single change of hand, in 
order to go as well to the right hand as to the 
left. The fourth or fifth day, the rider, be- 
fore putting his horse in motion, will make 
him commence some slight flexions of the 
croup. 

Second lesson. Ten days of work. — The 
first fifteen minutes will be occupied in the 
stationary supplings, comprising the flexions 
of the croup performed more completely 
than in the preceding lesson ; then will be- 
gin the backing. We will devote the other 
half of the lesson to the moving straight 
ahead, once or twice taking the trot at a 
very moderate pace. The rider during this 
second part of the work, without ceasing to 
pay attention to the ramener, will yet com- 
mence light oppositions of hands and legs, 
in order to prepare the horse to bear the 
combined efiects, and to give regularity to 
his paces. We will also commence the 



196 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

changes of direction at a walk^ while pre- 
serving the ramener^ and being careful to 
make the head and neck always go first. 

Third lesson. Twelve days of worh. — Six 
or eight minutes only will at first be occu- 
pied in the stationary flexions ; those of the 
hind-parts should be pushed to the comple- 
tion of the reversed ^pirouettes. We will 
continue by the backing ; then all the rest of 
the lesson will be devoted to perfecting the 
walk and the trot, commencing at this latter 
pace the changes of direction. The rider 
will often stop the horse, and continue to 
watch attentively the ramener during the 
changes of pace or direction. He will also 
commence the exercise de deux pistes at a 
walk, as well as the rotation of the shoul- 
ders around the haunches. 

Fourth lesson. Fifteen days of worh. — 
After five minutes being devoted to the 
stationary supplings, the rider will first re- 



DIVISION OF THE WORK. 197 

peat all the work of the preceding lessons; 
he will commence, with a steady foot, the 
attaques^ in order to confirm the ramener^ 
and prepare the rassembler. He will renew 
the attaques while in motion, and when the 
horse bears them patiently, he will com- 
mence the gallop. He will content himself 
in the commencement with executing four 
or five lopes only before resuming the walk, 
and then start again with a different foot, 
unless the horse requires being exercised 
more often on one foot than the other. 
In passing from the gallop to the walk, 
we should watch with care that the horse 
resumes this latter pace as quickly as pos- 
sible without taking short steps on a trot, 
all the while keeping the head and neck 
light. He will only be exercised at the 
gallop at the end of each lesson. 

* The use of the spurs. 

17* 



198 METHOD OF HORSEMANSILIP. 

Fifth lesson. Fifteen days of loorh.— 
These last fifteen days will be occupied in 
assuring the perfect execution of all the 
preceding work^ and in perfecting the pace 
of the gallop until we can execute easily 
changes of direction, changes of feet at 
every step, and passaging. We can then 
exercise the horse at leaping the bar, and at 
the piaffer. Thus in two months, and upon 
any horse, we will have accomplished a 
w^ork that formerly required years, and 
then often gave incomplete results. And I 
repeat, however insufficient so short a space 
of time may appear, it will produce the 
effect I promise, if you follow exactly all 
my directions. I have demonstrated this 
upon a hundred different occasions, and 
many of my pupils are able to prove it as 
well as myself. 

In establishing the above order of work, 
be it well understood, that I found myself 



DIVISION OF THE WORK. 199 

on the dispositions of horses in general, A 
horseman of any tact will soon understand 
the modifications that he ought to make in 
their application, according to the particular 
nature of his pupil. Such a horse, for ex- 
ample, will require more or less persistence 
in the flexions; another one in the backing; 
this one, dull and apathetic, will require the 
use of the spurs before the time I have indi- 
cated. All this is an affair of intelligence ; 
it would be to insult my readers not to sup- 
pose them capable of supplying to the details 
what it is elsewhere impossible to particu- 
larize. You can readily understand that 
there are irritable, ill-disposed horses, whose 
defective dispositions have been made worse 
by previous bad management. With such 
subjects it is necessary to put more persist- 
ence into the supplings and the walk. In 
every case, whatever the slight modifica- 
tions that the difference in the dispositions of 



200 METHOD OF HORSEMAlSrSHIP. 

the subjects render necessary, I persist in 
saying that there are no horses whose edu- 
cation ought not to be completed by my 
method in the space I designate. I mean 
here, that this time is sufficient to give the 
forces of the horse the fitness necessary for 
executing all the movements; the finish of 
education depends finally on the nicety of 
touch of the rider. In fact, my method has 
the advantages of recognizing no limits to the 
progress of equitation, and there is no per- 
formance equestrianly possible that a horse- 
man who understands properly applying my 
principles cannot make his horse execute. 
I am about to give a convincing proof in sup- 
port of this assertion, by explaining the six- 
teen new figures of the manege that I have 
added to the collection of the old masters. 



APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 201 



IX 



APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO 
THE PERFORMANCE OF THE HORSES, PARTISAN, 
CAPITAINE, NEPTUNE, AND BURIDAN. 

The persons who systematically denied 
the efficacy of my method, ought necessarily 
also to deny the results shown to them. 
They were forced to acknowledge that my 
performance at the Cirque- OJympique was 
new and extraordinary; but attributed it 
to causes, some more strange than others; 
all the while insisting that the equestrian 
talent of the rider did not go for nothing iii 
the expertness of the horse. According to 
some, I was a second Carter, accustoming 
my horses to obedience by depriving them 
of sleep and food; according to others, I 
bound their legs with cords, and thus held 



202 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

them suspended to prepare them for a kind 
of puppet-show; some were not far from 
believing that I fascinated them by the 
power of my looks. Finally, a certain por- 
tion of the public, seeing these animals per- 
form in time to the sound of the charming 
music of one of my friends, M. Paul Cu- 
zent, insisted seriously that they undoubt- 
edly possessed, in a very great degree, the 
instinct of melody, and that they would 
stop short with the clarionets and trom- 
bones. So, the sound of the music was 
more powerful over my horse than I was 
myself! The animal obeyed a c?o or a sol 
nicely touched; but my legs and hands 
went for nothing in their effects. Would it 
be believed that such nonsense was uttered 
by people that passed for riders? I can 
comprehend their not having understood 
my means at first, since my method was 
new; but before judging it in so strange a 



APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 203 

manner, they ought^ at least, it seems to me^ 
to have sought to understand it. 

I had found the round of ordinary feats 
of horsemanship too Hmited, since it was 
sufficient to execute one movement well to 
immediately practice the others with the 
same facility. So, it was proved to me that 
the rider who passed with precision along a 
straight line sideways {de deux ^pistes) at a 
walk, trot, and gallop, could go in the same 
way with the head or the croup to the wall, 
with the shoulder in, perform the ordinary 
or reversed volts, the changes and counter- 
changes of hands, &c. &c. As to the piaffer^ 
it was as I have said, nature alone that 
settled this. This long and fastidious per- 
formance had no other variations than the 
different titles of the movements, since it 
was sufficient to vanquish one difficulty to 
be able to surmount all the others. I then 
created new figures of the man^ge^ the exe- 



204 METHOD OP HORSEMAJTSHIP. 

cution of which rendered necessary more 
suppleness^ more ensemhJe, more finish in 
the education of the horse. This was easy 
to me with my system; and to convince my 
adversaries that there was neither magic 
nor mystery in my performance at the 
Cirque^ I am going to explain by what pro- 
cesses purely equestrian^ and even without 
having recourse to j)iUers, cavessons or 
horse-whips^ I have brought my horses to 
execute the sixteen figures of the manage 
that appear so extraordinary. 

1. Instantaneous flexion and support in 
the air of either one of the fore-legs^ while the 
other three legs remain fixed to the ground. 

The means of making the horse raise 
one of his fore-legs is very simple^ as soon 
as the animal is perfectly supple and rctssem- 
hie. To make him raise, for example, the 
right leg, it is sufficient to incline his head 
slightly to the right, while making the 



MOBILITY OF HAUN-CHES. 205 

weight of his body fall upon the left side. 
The rider's legs will he sustained firmly 
(the left a little more than the right), that 
the effect of the hand which brings the 
head to the right should not react upon the 
weightj and that the forces which serve to 
fasten to the ground the over-weighted part 
may give the horse's right leg enough 
action to make it rise from the ground. By 
a repetition of this exercise a few times, 
you will succeed in keeping this leg in the 
air as long a time as you wish. 

2. Mobility of the haunches, the horse 
resting on his fore-legs, while his hind-legs 
balance themselves alternately the one over 
the other : when the hind-leg which is raised 
from left to right is moved, and is placed 
on the ground to become pivot in its turn, 
the other to be instantly raised and to exe- 
cute the same movement. 
18 



206 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

The simple mobility of the haunches is 
one of the exercises that I have pointed out 
for the elementary education of the horse. 
We can complicate this performance by 
multiplying the alternate contact of the 
legs^ until we succeed in easily carrying the 
horse's croup, one leg over the other, in 
such a way that the movement from left to 
right and from right to left cannot exceed 
one step. This exercise is good to give 
great nicety of touch to the rider, and to 
prepare the horse to respond to the lightest 
effects. 

3. Passing instantly from the ^\ow piaffer 
to the precipitate piaffer, and vice versa. 

After having brought the horse to dis- 
play great mobility of the legs, we ought 
to regulate the movement of them. It is 
by the slow and alternated pressure of his 
legs that the rider will obtain the slow^^aJfer. 
He will make it precipitate by multiplying 



THE PIAFFERS. — BACKING. 207 

the contact. Both these ^iaffers can be ob- 
tained from all horses ; but as this is among 
the great difficulties^ perfect tact is indispen- 
sable. 

4. To back with an equal elevation of 
the transverse legs, which leave the ground 
and are placed again on it at the same time, 
the horse executing the movement with as 
much freedom and facility as if he were 
going forward; and without apparent aid 
from the rider. 

Backing is not new, but it certainly is 
new upon the conditions that I lay down. 
It is only by the aid of a complete suppling 
and ramener that we succeed in so suspend- 
ing the horse's body that the distribution of 
the weight is perfectly regular and the ex- 
tremities acquire energy and activity alike. 
This movement then becomes as easy and 
graceful as it is painful and devoid of 



208 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

elegance when it is changed into accule- 
ment.^ 

5. Simultaneous mobility of the two dia- 
gonal legs, the horse stationary. After hav- 
ing raised the two opposite legs, he carries 
them to the rear to bring them back again 
to the place they first occupied, and recom- 
mences the same movement with the other 
diagonal. 

The suppling, and having got the horse 
in hand make this movement easy. When 
he no longer presents any resistance, he 
appreciates the lightest effects of the rider, 
intended in this case to displace only the 
least possible quantity of forces and weight 
necessary to set in motion the opposite ex- 
tremities. By repeating this exercise, it 

* Acculement and reculer have been previously ex- 
plained; one is the horse backing falsely^ the other back- 
ing correctly. — Translator. 



TROTTING. 209 

will in a little while be rendered familiar to 
the horse. The finish of the mechanism 
will soon give the finish of intelligence. 

6. Trot with a sustained extension; the 
horse after having raised his legs^ carries 
them forward, sustaining them an instant 
in the air before replacing them on the 
ground. 

The processes that form the basis of my 
method reproduce themselves in each simple 
movement, and with still more reason in 
the complicated ones. If equilibrium is 
only obtained by lightness, in return there 
is no lightness without equilibrium; it is 
by the union of these two conditions that 
the horse will acquire the facility of extend- 
ing his trot to the farthest possible limits, 
and will completely change his original gait. 

7. Serpentine trot, the horse turning to 
the right and to the left to return nearly to 

18* 



210 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

his starting point, after having made five or 
six steps in each direction. 

This movement will present no difficulty 
if we keep the horse in hand while exe- 
cuting the flexions of the neck at the walk 
and trot; you can readily see that such a 
performance is impossible without this con- 
dition. The leg opposite to the side towards 
which the neck turns ought always to be 
pressed. 

8. Instant halt by the aid of the spurs, 
the horse being at a gallop. 

When the horse, being perfectly suppled, 
will properly bear the attaques and the ras- 
sernbleVy he will be fit to execute the halt 
upon the above conditions. In the applica- 
tion of this we will start with a slow gallop, 
in order to go on successively to the greatest 
speed. The legs preceding the hand, will 
bring the horse's hind-legs under the middle 
of his body, then a prompt effect of the 



CONTINUED MOBILITY. 211 

hand^ by fixing them in this position, will 
immediately stop the bound. By this 
means we spare the horse's organization, 
which can thus be always kept free from 
blemish. 

9. Continued mobility or pawing, while 
stationary, of one of the horse's fore-legs; 
the horse, at the rider's will, executing the 
movement by which he, of his own accord, 
often manifests his impatience. 

This movement will be obtained by the 
same process that serves to keep the horse's 
leg in the air. In the latter case, the rider's 
legs must impress a continued support, in 
order that the force which holds the horse's 
leg raised keep up its effect; while, for the 
movement now in question, we must renew 
the action by a quantity of slight pressures, 
in order to cause the motion of the leg held 
up in the air. This extremity of the horse 
will soon acquire a movement subordinate 



212 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

to that of the rider's legs^ and if the time is 
well seized^ it will seem^ so to say, that we 
make the animal move by the aid of 
mechanical means. 

10. To trot backwards, the horse preserv- 
ing the same cadence and the same step as 
in the trot forwards. 

The first condition, in order to obtain the 
trot backwards, is to keep the horse in a 
perfect cadence and as rassewible as possible. 
The second is all in the proceedings of the 
rider. He ought to seek insensibly by the 
combined effects to make the forces of the 
fore-hand exceed those of the hind-parts, 
without affecting the harmony of the move- 
ment. Thus we see that by the rasseniblery 
we will successively obtain the j^iaffer sta- 
tionary, and the ^iaffer backwards, even 
without the aid of the reins. 

11. To gallop backwards, the time being 
the same as in the ordinary gallop j but the 



THE BACKWARD TROT. 213 

fore-legs once raised^ in place of coming to 
the ground^ are carried backwards, that the 
hind-parts may execute the same backward 
movement as soon as the fore-feet are placed 
on the ground. 

The principle is the same as for the pre- 
ceding performance ; with a perfect rassem- 
hler^ the hind-legs will find themselves so 
brought under the centre, that by raising 
the fore-hand, the movement of the hocks 
can only be an upward one. This perform- 
ance, though easily executed with a power- 
ful horse, ought not to be attempted with 
one not possessing this quality. 

12. Changing feet every step, each time 
of the gallop being done on a different leg. 

In order to practice this difi&cult perform- 
ance, the horse ought to be accustomed to 
execute perfectly, and as frequently as pos- 
sible, changing feet at the touch. Before 
attempting these changes of feet every step, 



214 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

we ought to have brought him to execute 
this movement at every other step. Every- 
thing depends upon his aptness, and above 
all, on the intelligence of the rider; with 
this latter quality, there is no obstacle that 
is not to be surmounted. To execute this 
performance with the desirable degree of 
precision, the horse should remain light, and 
preserve the same degree of action; the 
rider, on his part, should also avoid roughly 
inclining the horse's fore-hand to one side 
or the other. 

13. OrdinsiYy pirouettes on three legs, the 
fore-leg on the side towards which we are 
turning: remaining in the air during the 
whole time of the movement. 

OrdmsiYy ^rouettes should be familiar to 
a horse broken after my method, and I have 
above shown the means to make him hold 
up one of his fore-feet. If these two move- 
ments are well executed separately, it will 



TO BACK WITH A HALT. 215 

be easy to connect them in a single perform- 
ance. After having disposed the horse for 
the ^irouette^ we will prepare the mass in 
such a way as to raise the fore-leg; this 
once in the air, we will throw the weight 
on the part opposite to the side towards 
which we wish to turn, by bearing upon 
this part with the hand and leg. The leg 
of the rider placed on the converging side, 
will only act during this time so as to carry 
the forces forward, in order to prevent the 
hand producing a retrograde effect. 

14. To back with a halt at each step, the 
right leg of the horse remaining in front 
motionless and held out at the full distance 
that the left leg has passed over, and vice 
versa. 

This movement depends upon the nicety 
of touch of the rider, as it results from 
an effect of forces impossible to specify. 



216 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

Though this performance is not very grace- 
ful^ the experienced rider will do well to 
often practice it, in order to learn to modify 
the effects of forces, and acquire all the 
niceties of his art in perfection. 

15. Regular 'piaffer with an instant halt 
on three legs, the fourth remaining in the air. 

Here, also, as for the ordinary ^^Vowe^^e5 
upon three legs, it is by exercising the 
jpiaffer and the flexion of one leg separately, 
that we will succeed in uniting the two 
movements in one. We will interrupt the 
jpiaffer by arresting the contraction of three 
of the legs so as to leave it in one only. It 
is sufficient, then, in order to accustom the 
horse to this performance, to stop him while 
he is piaffing y by forcing him to contract one 
of his legs. 

16. Change of feet every time at equal 
intervals, the horse remaining in the same 
place. 



CHANGE OF FEET. . 217 

This movement is obtained by the same 
proceedings as are employed for changing 
feet every time while advancing ; only it is 
much more complicated^ since we must give 
an exact impulsion sufficiently strong to 
determine the movement of the legs with- 
out the body advancing. This movement 
consequently demands a great deal of tact 
on the rider's part, and cannot be practiced 
except upon a perfectly broken horse^ but 
broken as I understand it. 

Such is the vocabulary of the new figures 
of the manage that I have created, and so 
often executed before the public. As you 
see, this performance, which appeared so 
extraordinary that people would not be- 
lieve it belonged to equestrianism, becomes 
very simple and comprehensible as soon as 
you have studied the principles of my 
method. There is not one of these move- 
ments in which is not discovered the appli- 
19 



218 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

cation of tlie precepts I have developed in 
this book. 

But, I repeat, if I have enriched equita= 
tion with a new and interesting work, I do 
not pretend to have attained the farthest 
limits of the art ; and one may come after 
me, who, if he will study my system and 
practice it with intelligence, will be able to 
pass me on the course, and add something 
yet to the results I have obtained. 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 219 



X. 



SUCCINCT EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD BY QUES- 
TIONS AND ANSWERS. 

Question, What do you understand by 
force ? 

Answer. The motive power which results 
from muscular contraction. 

Q. What do you understand by instinct- 
ive forces ? 

A. Those which come from the horse — 
that is to say^ of which he himself deter- 
mines the employment. 

Q. What do you understand by trans- 
mitted forces ? 

A. Those which emanate from the rider, 
and are immediately appreciated by the 
horse. 



220 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

Q, What do you understand by resist- 
ances ? 

A. The force which the horse presents^ 
and with which he seeks to estabhsh a 
struggle to his advantage. 

Q. Ought we first to set to work to annul 
the forces the horse presents for resistance, 
before demanding any other movements of 
him? 

A. Without doubt, as then the force of 
the rider, which should displace the weight 
of the mass, finding itself absorbed by an 
equivalent resistance, every movement be- 
comes impossible. 

Q. By what means can we combat the 
resistances ? 

A. By the methodical and separate sup- 
pling of the jaw, the neck, the haunches, 
and the loins. 

Q, What is the use of the flexions of the 
jaw? 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 221 

A. As it is upon the lower jaw that the 
effects of the rider's hand are first felt; 
these will be null or incomplete if the jaw 
is contracted or closed against the upper 
one. Besides, as in this case the displacing 
of the horse's body is only obtained with 
difficulty, the movements resulting there- 
from will also be painful. 

Q. Is it enough that the horse champ Ms 
hit for the flexion of the jaw to leave no- 
thing more to wish for ? 

A. No, it is also necessary that the horse 
let go of the hit — that is to say, that he should 
separate (at our will) his jaws as much as 
possible. 

Q. Can all horses have this mobility of 
jaw? 

A. All without exception, if we follow 

the gradation pointed out, and if the rider 

does not allow himself to be deceived by the 

flexion of the neck. Useful as this is, it 

19* 



222 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

would be insufficient without the play of 
the jaw. 

Q. In the direct flexion of the jaw, ought 
we to give a tension to the curb-reins and 
those of the snaflle at the same time ? 

A. No, we must make the snaffle precede 
(the hand being placed as indicated in Plate 
No. 3), until the head and neck are lowered; 
afterwards the pressure of the bit, in time 
with the snaffle, will promptly make the 
jaws open. 

Q. Ought we often to repeat this exer- 
cise? 

A. It should be continued until the jaws 
separate by a light pressure of the bit or 
snaffle. 

Q, Why is the stiffness of the neck so 
powerful an obstacle to the education of the 
horse ? 

A. Because it absorbs to its profit the 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 223 

force which the rider seeks in vain to trans- 
mit throughout the whole mass. 

Q. Can the haunches be suppled sepa- 
rately ? 

. A. Certainly they can ; and this exercise 
is comprised in what is called stationary 
exercise. 

Q. What is its useful object ? 

A, To prevent the bad effects resulting 
from the instinctive forces of the horse^ and 
to make him appreciate the forces trans- 
mitted by the rider without opposing them. 

Q. Can the horse execute a movement 
without a shifting of weight? 

A, It is impossible. We must first seek 
to make the horse take a position which 
causes such a variation in his equilibrium 
that the movement may be a natural conse- 
quence of it. 

Q, What do you understand by position ? 

A, An arrangement of the head, neck, and 



224 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

body, previously disposed according to the 
movements of the horse. 

Q, In what consists the ramener ? 

A. In the perpendicular position of the 
head, and the lightness that accompanies it. 

Q. What is the distribution of the forces 
and weight in the ramener ? 

A. The forces and weight are equally dis- 
tributed through all the mass. 

Q. How do we address the intelligence of 
the horse ? 

A. By the position, because it is that 
which makes the horse know the rider's in- 
tentions. 

Q, Why is it necessary that in the back- 
ward movements of the horse, the legs of 
the rider precede the hand ? 

A, Because we must displace the points 
of support before placing upon them the 
mass that they must sustain. 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 225 

Q. Is it the rider that determines hi-s 
horse ? 

A. No. The rider gives action and posi- 
tion, which are the language; the horse 
answers this demand by the change of 
pace or direction that the rider had in- 
tended. 

Q, Is it to the rider or to the horse that 
we ought to impute the fault of bad execu- 
tion? 

A. To the rider, and always to the rider. 
As it depends upon him to supple and place 
the horse in the way of the movement, and 
as with these two conditions faithfully ful- 
filled, everything becomes regular, it is then 
to the rider that the merit or blame ought 
to belong. 

Q, What kind of bit is suitable for a 
horse ? 

A. An easy bit. 



226 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

Q, Why is an easy bit necessary for all 
horses, whatever may be their resistance ? 

A. Because the effect of a severe bit is to 
constrain and surprise a horse, while it 
ought to prevent him from doing wrong and 
enable him to do well. Now, we cannot 
obtain these results except by the aid of an 
easy bit, and above all of a skillful hand; 
for the bit is the hand, and a good hand is 
the whole of the rider. 

Q, Are there any other inconveniences 
connected with the instruments of torture 
called severe bits ? 

A. Certainly there are, for the horse soon 
learns to avoid the painful infliction of them 
by forcing the rider's legs, the power of 
which can never be equal to that of this 
barbarous bit. He succeeds in this by 
yielding with his body, and resisting with 
his neck and jaw; which misses altogether 
the aim proposed. 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 227 

Q. How is it that nearly all the horse- 
men of renown have invented a particular 
kind of bit? 

A. Because being wanting in personal 
science, they sought to replace their own in- 
sufficiency by aids or strange machines. 

Q. Can the horse, perfectly in hand, de- 
fend himself? 

A, No; for the just distribution of weight 
that this position gives supposes a great 
regularity of movement, and it would be 
necessary to overturn this order that any 
act of rebellion on the part of the horse 
should take place. 

Q, What is the use of the snaffle ? 

A, The snaffle serves to combat the oppo- 
sing forces (lateral) of the neck, to make 
the head precede in all the changes of direc- 
tion, while the horse is not yet familiarized 
with the effects of the bit; it serves also to 



228 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

arrange the head and neck in a perfectly 
straight line. 

Q. In order to obtain the ramener, should 
we make the legs precede the hand, or the 
hand the legs ? 

A. The hands ought to precede until 
they have produced the effect of giving 
great suppleness to the neck (this ought to 
be practiced in the stationary exercises) ; 
then come the legs in their turn to combine 
the hind and fore-parts in the movement. 
The continual lightness of the horse at all 
paces will be the result of it. 

Q. Ought the legs and the hands to aid 
one another, or act separately? 

A. One of these extremities ought always 
to have the other for auxiliary. 

Q. Ought we to leave the horse a long 
time at the same pace in order to develop 
his powers ? 

A. It is useless, since the regularity of 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 229 

movements results from the regularity of the 
positions ; the horse that makes fifty steps 
at a trot regularly is much further advanced 
in his education than if he made a thousand 
in a bad position. We must then attend to 
his position, that is to say his lightness. 

Q, In what proportions ought we to use 
the force of the horse ? 

Jl. This cannot be defined, since these 
forces vary in different subjects; but we 
should be sparing of them, and not expend 
them without circumspection, particularly 
during the course of his education. It is 
on this account that we must, so to say, 
create for them a reservoir that the horse 
may not absorb them uselessly, and that the 
rider may make a profitable and more last- 
ing use of them. 

Q. What good will there result to the 
horse from this judicious employment of his 
forces? 
20 



230 METHOD OF HOESEMANSHIP. 

A. As we will only make use of forces 
useful for certain movements^ fatigue or ex- 
haustion can only result from the length of 
time during which the animal will remain 
at an accelerated pace^ and will not be the 
effect of an excessive muscular contraction 
which would preserve its intensity, even at 
a moderate pace. 

Q. When should we first undertake to 
make the horse back? 

A. After the suppling of the neck and 
haunches. 

A. Why should the suppling of the 
haunches precede that of the loins (the 
recider) ? 

A. To keep the horse more easily in a 
straight line and to render the flowing back 
and forward of the weight more easy. 

Q. Ought these first retrograde move- 
ments of the horse to be prolonged during 
the first lessons ? 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 231 

A. No. As their only object is to annul 
the instinctive forces of the horse, we must 
wait till he is perfectly in hand to obtain a 
backward movement, a true reculer. 

Q. What constitutes a true reculer? 

A. The lightness of the horse (head per- 
pendicular), the exact balance of his body 
and the elevation to the same height of the 
legs diagonally. 

Q. At what distance ought the spur to 
be placed from the horse's flanks before the 
attaque (spurring) commences? 

A, The rowel should not be farther than 
two inches from the horse's flanks. 

Q. How ought the attaques to be practiced ? 

A. They ought to reach the flanks by a 
movement like the stroke of a lancet, and 
be taken away as quickly. 

Q. Are there circumstances where the 
attaque ought to be practiced without the 
aid of the hand ? 



232 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

A. Never; since its only object should be 
to give the impulsion which serves for the 
hand to contain (renfermer) the horse. 

Q. Is it the attacks themselves that chas- 
tise the horse ? 

A. No. The chastisement is in the con- 
tained position that the attaques and the 
hand make the horse assume. As the latter 
then finds himself in a position where it is 
impossible to make use of any of his forces, 
the chastisement has all its efficiency. 

Q. In what consists the difference be- 
tween the attaques practiced after the old 
principles and those which the new method 
prescribed ? 

A. Our predecessors (that we should 
venerate) practiced spurring in order to 
throw the horse out of himself; the new 
method makes use of it to contain him, that 
is, to give him that first position which is 
the mother of all the others. 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 233 

Q. What are the functions of the legs 
during the attaques ? 

A. The legs ought to remain adherent to 
the horse's flanks and in no respect to par- 
take of the movements of the feet. 

Q. At what moment ought we to com- 
mence the attaques ? 

A, When the horse supports peaceably a 
strong pressure of the legs without getting 
out of hand. 

Q. Why does a horse, perfectly in hand, 
bear the spur without becoming excited, and 
even without sudden movement ? 

A. Because the skillful hand of the rider, 
having prevented all displacings of the 
head, never lets the forces escape outwards ; 
it concentrates them by fixing them. The 
equal struggle of the forces, or if you prefer 
it, their ensemble, sufficiently explains the 
apparent dullness of the horse in this case. 

Q. Is it not to be feared that the horse 
20* 



234 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

may become insensible to the legs and lose 
all that activity necessary for accelerated 
movements ? 

A. Although this is the opinion of nearly 
all the people who talk of this method with- 
out understanding it, there is nothing in it. 
Since all these means serve only to keep the 
horse in the most perfect equilibrium, 
promptness of movement ought necessarily 
to be the result of it, and, consequently, the 
horse will be disposed to respond to the pro- 
gressive contact of the legs, when the hand 
does not oppose it. 

Q. How can we judge whether an attaque 
is regular ? 

A. When, far from making the horse get 
out of hand, it makes him come in to it. 

Q. How ought the hand to be supported 
at the moments of resistance on the part of 
the horse ? 

A. The hand ought to stop, fix itself, and 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 235 

only be drawn sufficiently towards the body 
to give the reins a three-quarter tension. 
In the contrary case, we must wait till the 
horse bears upon the hand to present this 
insurmountable barrier to him. 

Q, What would be the inconvenience of 
increasing the pressure of the bit by drawing 
the hand towards the body in order to 
slacken the horse in his paces by getting 
him in hand ? 

A, It would not produce an effect upon 
a particular part, but would act generally 
upon all the forces, in displacing the weight 
instead of annulling the force of impulsion. 
"We should not wish to incline to one side 
what we cannot stop. 

Q. In what case ought we to make use of 
the cavesson ; and what is its use ? 

A. We should make use of it when the 
faulty construction of the horse leads him 
to defend himself, when only simple move- 



236 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

ments are demanded of him. It is also use- 
ful to use the cavesson with restive horses, 
as its object is to act upon the moral, while 
the rider acts upon the physical. 

Q. How ought we to make use of the 
cavesson ? 

^. At first, the longe of the cavesson 
should be held at from fifteen or twenty 
inches from the horse's head, held out and 
supported with a stiff wrist. We must 
watch the proper times to diminish or in- 
crease the bearing of the cavesson upon the 
horse's nose, so as to use it as an aid. All 
viciousness that leads him to act badly is to 
be repressed by little jerks, which should be 
given at the very moment of defence. As 
soon as the rider's movements begin to be 
appreciated by the horse, the longe of the 
cavesson ought no longer to act; at the end 
of a few days the horse will only need the 



EXPOSITION or THE METHOD. 237 

bit, to which he will respond without hesita- 
tion. 

Q, In what case is the rider less intelli- 
gent than the horse ? 

A. When the latter subjects him to his 
caprices, and does what he wishes with him. 

Q, Are the defences of the horse physical 
or moral ? 

A. At first they are physical, but after- 
w^ards become moral ^ the rider ought then 
to -seek out the causes that produce them, 
and endeavor, by a preparatory exercise, to 
re-establish the correct equilibrium that a 
bad natural formation prevented. 

Q. Can the naturally well-balanced horse 
defend himself? 

A, It would be as difficult for a subject 
uniting all that constitutes a good horse to 
give himself up to disorderly movements, as 
it is impossible for the one that has not re- 
ceived the like gifts from nature, to have 



238 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

regular movements^ if art did not lend him 
its aid. 

Q. What do you mean by rassemhler ? 

A. The reunion of forces at the centre of 
gravity. 

Q. Can we rassemhler the horse that does 
not contain himself under the attaques ? 

A. This is altogether impossible ; the legs 
would be insufficient to counterbalance the 
effects of the hand. 

Q. At what time ought we to rassemhler 
the horse ? 

A. When the ramener is complete. 

Q. Of what service is the rassemhler ? 

A. To obtain without difficulty everything 
of a complicated nature in horsemanship. 

Q. In what does the piaffer consist ? 

A. In the graceful position of the body 
and the harmonized precision of movement 
of the legs and feet. 



EXPOSITION OF THE METHOD. 239 

Q. Is there more than one kind of 
jpiaffer ? 

A, Two; the slow and the precipitate. 

Q. Which is to be preferred of these two? 

A. The slow Jpiaffer, since it is only when 
this is obtained that the equilibrium is per- 
fect. 

Q. Ought we to make a horse j)iaffe who 
will not bear the rassembler ? 

A. No ; for that would be to step out of 
the logical gradation that alone can give " 
certain results. Besides, the horse that has 
not been brought forward by this chain of 
principles would only execute with trouble 
and ungracefully what he ought to accom- 
plish with pleasure and nobly. 

Q. Are all riders alike suited to conquer 
all the difficulties and seize all the effects of 
touch ? 

A. As in horsemanship, intelligence is 
the starting point for obtaining every result, 



240 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

everything is subordinate to this innate dis- 
position; but every rider will have the 
power to break his horse to an extent com- 
mensurate with his own abilities to instruct. 



coNCLusioisr. 241 



CONCLUSION. 

Eyertbody complains now-a-days of the 
degeneration of our breeds ^f horses. Ap- 
prehensive too late of a state of things which 
threatens even the national independence^* 
patriotic spirits are seeking to go back to 
the source of the evil, and are arranging 
divers systems for remedying it as soon as 
possible. Among the causes which have 
contributed the most to the loss of our old 
breeds, they forget, it seems to me, to men- 
tion the decline of horsemanship, nor do 
they consider that the revival of this art is 
indispensable in bringing about the regenera- 
tion of the horse. 

*• Much in this chapter, though written for France, 
applies with great appropriateness to our own country. 

21 



242 METHOD OF HOKSEMANSHIP. 

The difficulties of horsemanship have 
long been the same, but formerly constant 
practice, if not taste, kept it up; these 
stimulants exist no longer. Fifty years ago^ 
every man of rank was expected to be able 
to handle a horse with skill, and break one 
if necessary. This study was an indispen- 
sable part of the education of young people 
of family ; and as it obliged them to devote 
two or three years to the rough exercises of 
the manage, in the end they all became 
horsemen, some by taste, the rest by habit. 
These habits once acquired were preserved 
throughout life ; they then felt the necessity 
of possessing good horses, and men of for- 
tune spared nothing in getting them. The 
sale of fine horses thus became easy; all 
gained by it, the breeder as well as the 
horse. It is not so now : the aristocracy 
of fortune, succeeding to that of birth, is 
very willing to possess the advantages of 



CONCLUSION. 243 

the latter^ but would dispense with the 
onerous obligations which appertained to an 
elevated rank. The desire of showing off 
in public places, or motives still more frivo- 
lous, sometimes lead gentlemen of our times 
to commence the study of horsemanship, 
but, soon wearied of a work without satisfac- 
tory results, they find only a monotonous 
, fatigue where they sought a pleasure, and 
are satisfied they know enough as soon as 
they can stick passably well in the saddle. 
So insufficient a knowledge of horsemanship, 
as dangerous as it is thoughtless, must neces- 
sarily occasion sad accidents. They then 
become disgusted with horsemanship and 
horses, and as nothing obliges them to con- 
tinue the exercise, they give it up nearly 
altogether, and so much the more easily as 
they naturally care very little about the 
breeds of horses and their perfection. We 
must then, as a preliminary measure in the 



244 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

improvement of horses, raise up horseman- 
ship from the low state into which it has 
fallen. The government can undoubtedly 
do much here ; but it is for the masters of 
the art to supply, if necessary, what it leaves 
undone. Let them render attractive and to 
the purpose studies which have hitherto 
been too monotonous and often barren ; let 
rational and true principles make the 
scholar see a real progress, that each of 
their efforts brings a success with it; and 
we will soon see young persons of fortune 
become passionately fond of an exercise 
which has been rendered as interesting to 
them as it is noble, and discover, with their 
love for horses, a lively solicitude for all 
that concerns their qualities and education. 
But horsemen can aim at still more bril- 
liant results. If they succeed in rendering 
easy the education of common horses, they 
will make the study of horsemanship popu- 



CONCLUSION. 245 

lar among the masses ; they will put within 
reach of moderate fortunes, so numerous in 
our land of equality, the practice of an art 
that has hitherto been confined to the rich. 
Such has been the aim of the labors of my 
whole life. It is in the hope of attaining 
this end that I give to the public the fruit 
of my long researches. 

But I should say, however, that if I was 
upheld by the hope of being one day useful 
to my country, it was the army above all 
that occupied my thoughts. Though count- 
ing many skillful horsemen in its ranks, the 
system they are made to follow, impotent in 
my eyes, is the true cause of the equestrian 
inferiority of so many, as well as of their 
horses being so awkward and badly broken. 
I might add that to the same motive is 
to be attributed the little taste for horse- 
manship felt by the officers and soldiers. 
How can it be otherwise ? The low price 
21* 



246 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

allowed by government for horses of re- 
mount, causes few horses of good shape to 
be met with in the army, and it is only of 
these that the education is easy. The offi- 
cers themselves, mounted upon a very com- 
mon sort of horses, strive in vain to render 
them docile and agreeable. After two or 
three years of fatiguing exercise, they end 
by gaining a mechanical obedience, but the 
same resistances and the same faults of con- 
struction are perpetually recurring. Dis- 
gusted by difficulties that appear insur- 
mountable, they trouble themselves no more 
about horses and horsemanship than the 
demands of the service actually require. 

Yet it is indispensable that a cavalry 
officer be always master of his horse, so 
much so as to be able, so to say, to com- 
municate his own thoughts to him ; the uni- 
formity of manoeuvres, the necessities of 
command, the perils of the battle-field all 



CONCLUSIOl^. 247 

demand it imperatively. The life of the 
rider, every one knows, often depends upon 
the good or bad disposition of his steed ; in 
the same way the loss or the gain of a battle 
often hangs on the degree of precision in 
manoeuvring a squadron. My method will 
give miUtary men a taste for horsemanship, 
a taste which is indispensable in the profes- 
sion they practice. The nature of officers' 
horses, considered as so defective, is exactly 
the one upon which the most satisfactory 
results may be obtained. These animals 
generally possess a certain degree of energy, 
and as soon as we know how rightly to use 
their powers by remedying the physical 
faults that paralyze them, we will be aston- 
ished at the resources they will exhibit. 
The rider fashioning the steed by degrees, 
will regard him as the work of his hand, 
will become sincerely attached to him, and 
will find as much charm in horsemanship 



248 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

as he previously felt ennui and disgust. My 
principles are simple, easy in their applica- 
tion, and within the reach of every mind. 
They can everywhere make (what is now so 
rare) skillful horsemen. I am sure that if 
my method is adopted and well understood 
in the army^ where the daily exercise of the 
horse is a necessary duty, we will see eques- 
trian capacities spring up among the officers 
and sub-officers by thousands. There is not 
one among them who, with an hour a-day, 
of study would not soon be able to give any 
horse in less than three months the follow- 
ing qualities and education : — 

1. General suppling. 

2. Perfect lightness. 

3. Graceful position. 

4. A steady walk. 

5. Trot steady, measured, extended. 

6. Backing as easily and as freely as 
going forward. 



CONCLUSION. 249 

7. Gallop easy with either foot; and 
change of foot by the touch. 

8. Easy and regular movement of the 
hauncheSj comprising ordinary and reversed 
pirouettes, 

9. Leaping the ditch and the bar. 

10. Plaffer. 

11. Halt from the gallop, by the aid of 
first; the pressure of the legs, and then a 
light support of the hand. I ask all con- 
scientious men; have they seen many horse- 
men of renown obtain similar results in so 
short a time ? 

The education of the men's horses, being 
less complicated than that of those intended 
for oflficerS; would on that account be more 
rapid. The principal things will be the 
supplings and the backing, followed by the 
walk, the trot and the gallop, while keeping 
the horse perfectly in hand. The colonels 
will soon appreciate the excellent results of 



250 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

this exercise, in consequence of the pre- 
cision with which all the movements are 
made. The important flexions of the fore- 
hand can be executed without leaving the 
stables, each rider turning his horse round 
in the stall. It is not for me to point out to 
the colonels of regiments the exact way of 
putting my method in practice ; it is enough 
for me to lay down my principles and to ex- 
plain them. The instructors will them- 
selves supply the details of application too 
long to enumerate here. 

I must again repeat, this book is the fruit 
of twenty years of observation constantly 
verified by practice. A long and painful 
work without doubt, but what compensation 
I have found in the results I have been 
happy enough to obtain ! In order to let 
the public judge of the importance of my 
discoveries, it is sufficient here to give their 
nomenclature, and I present these processes 



CONCLUSION. 251 

as new ones^ because I can conscientiously 
say that they never were practiced before 
me. I have added then successively to the 
manual of the horseman the following prin- 
ciples and innovations : — 

1. New means of obtaining a good seat. 

2. Means of making the horse come to 
the man, and rendering him steady to 
mount. 

3. Distinction between the instinctive 
forces of the horse and the communicated 
forces. 

4. Explanation of the influence of a bad 
formation upon the horse's resistances. 

5. Effect of bad formations on the neck 
and croup, the principal focuses of resist- 
ance. 

6. Means of remedying the faults, or sup- 
plings of the two extremities and the whole 
of the horse's body. 

7. Annihilation of the instinctive forces 



252 METHOD OF HOKSEMANSHIP. 

of the horse, in order to substitute for them 
forces transmitted by the rider, and to give 
ease and beauty of motion to the ungraceful 
animah 

8. Equality of sensibility of mouth in all 
horses; adoption of a uniform bit. 

9. Equality of sensibility of flanks in all 
horses; means of accustoming them all to 
bear the spur alike. 

10. All horses can place their heads in 
the position of ramener and acquire the 
same lightness. 

11. Means of bringing the centre of 
gravity in a badly formed horse to the place 
it occupies in a well-formed one. 

12. The rider disposes his horse for a 
moment, but he does not determine the 
movement. 

13. Why sound horses often are faulty in 
their paces. Means of remedying this in a 
few lessons. 



CONCLUSION. 253 

14. For changes of direction, use of the 
leg opposite to the side towards which we 
turn, so that it may precede the other one. 

15. In all backward movements of the 
horse the rider's legs ought to precede the 
hands. 

16. Distinction between the reculer and 
the acculement; the good e£fect of the 
former in the horse's education; the bad 
effects of the latter. 

17. The use of the spurs as a means of 
education. 

18. All horses can ^iaffer ; means of 
rendering this movement slow or precipi- 
tate, 

19. Definition of the true rasseynhler ; 
means of obtaining it ; of its usefulness to 
produce grace and regularity in complicated 
movements. 

20. Means of bringing all horses to step 
out freely at a trot. 

22 



254 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

21. Rational means of putting a horse at 
a gallop. 

22. Halt at a gallop, the legs or the spur 
preceding the hand. 

23. Force continued in proportion to the 
forces of the horse; the rider should never 
yield until after having annulled the horse's 
resistances. 

24. Education of the horse in parts, or 
means of exercising his forces separately. 

25. Complete education of horses of ordi- 
nary formation in less than three months. 

26. Sixteen new figures of the manege 
proper for giving the finishing touch to the 
horse's education, and for perfecting the 
rider's touch. 

It is understood that all the details of 
application appertaining to these innovations 
are new also, and likewise belong to me. 

THE END. 



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